A suspected serial killer was charged in a seventh murder after witnesses recognized a distinct crescent moon forehead tattoo, officials said.
Perez Deshay Reed, 26, of St. Louis, was already accused in six other killings when he was slapped with the additional first-degree murder charge on Friday, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
He’s additionally charged with one count of armed criminal action and two counts of fraud involving a credit or debit device.
The latest charges stem from the fatal shooting in November 2021 of Stephon D. Johnson, whose body was found stuffed inside of a closet in his apartment in midtown Kansas City, Mo. Investigators found he had been shot in the back of the head.
Witnesses told investigators that the “serial killer” they had seen on TV from St. Louis was the same man with a crescent tattoo who had been a guest of Johnson’s.
When cops arrested Reed in nearby Independence on warrants from St. Louis County, they found a key on him that fit a deadbolt lock at Johnson’s apartment. DNA evidence collected from a cigarillo box also connected Reed to the murder.
Officials said that the bullet found inside Johnson’s head was fired from the gun that Reed had on him when he was arrested.
He is being held in St. Louis without bond.
Reed’s killing spree took place between September and November in St. Louis and Kansas City areas.
Most of his victims were women — some of whom were sex workers, officials said. The victims ranged in age from 16 to 49.
In St. Louis County, he allegedly killed 16-year-old Marnay Haynes on Sept. 13, 2021, and 40-year-old Lester Robinson on Sept. 26. He also is charged in the killings in St. Louis of 49-year-old Pamela Abercrombie on Sept. 16 and 24-year-old Carey Ross on Sept. 19. All four victims were shot in the head, officials said.
In Wyandotte County, Ks., Reed is charged in the deaths of Damon Washington Irvin and Rau’daja De’Naya Farrow in October. Their bodies were found in separate apartments at a complex in downtown Kansas City, Ks., authorities said.
The FBI had been trailing him, and he was nabbed after exiting a bus in Independence, Missouri.
With Post wires