ST. LOUIS (AP) - Prosecutors charged St. Louis man Wednesday with murdering a woman who was found dead in her car's trunk days after her 3-month-old son was found unharmed in his car seat in an apartment building hallway.
Dyanthany Yeapheat Proudie, 40, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Jan. 2 shooting death of 30-year-old Ebony Jackson. Jackson grew up in East St. Louis, Ill., and was living in the Oklahoma City area when she was killed while visiting the St. Louis area with her infant son, Donavan Prom.
Proudie remained jailed without bond. His attorney, Brad Kessler, didn't return phone messages Wednesday seeking comment.
In a probable cause statement, police allege that Jackson and Proudie were acquaintances who had reconnected during her visit to the area to see friends and family. They contend that Jackson and her son were at Proudie's apartment on the day she was killed and that he shot her once in the head while she was preparing to bathe. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive, police spokeswoman Leah Freeman said Wednesday.
Police allege that after killing Jackson, Proudie put her body in the trunk of her car. What happened over the next two days isn't clear, but on Jan. 4 Jackson's son was found unharmed in his car in a hallway at the Breckinridge Hills apartment complex where Proudie's estranged wife lives.
Relatives by that point were already worried because they couldn't contact Jackson. Police eventually activated a GPS tracker for Jackson's 2004 Mitsubishi Galant, leading them to a city street lined mostly with vacant lots and crumbling homes.
Proudie had prior convictions for second-degree burglary in 1990 and second-degree assault in 1992. Last year, he was convicted of possession of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest. He was on probation for the 2012 convictions when he was arrested Tuesday.