Timeline of Gov. Greitens' affair, criminal charge and the special House investigative committee

Missouri House Democrats, headed by Minority Floor Leader Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, at microphones, addresses a large media crowd in the House of Representatives side gallery April 11, 2018, following the release of the report from the special House committee investigating the St. Louis indictment of Gov. Eric Greitens on an invasion-of-privacy charge.
Missouri House Democrats, headed by Minority Floor Leader Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, at microphones, addresses a large media crowd in the House of Representatives side gallery April 11, 2018, following the release of the report from the special House committee investigating the St. Louis indictment of Gov. Eric Greitens on an invasion-of-privacy charge.

In March 2015, future Gov. Eric Greitens began an affair with his then-hairdresser that ultimately led to criminal charges and ongoing investigations by a grand jury in St. Louis and by a special House committee chaired by state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City.

Greitens has admitted to the affair but denied doing anything that would justify the investigations.

The woman has not been named publicly. She is identified as K.S. in the St. Louis court documents and as "Witness 1" in the House committee's report.

Where needed for clarity, this story generally uses the "K.S." designation.

Last week, Greitens told reporters that most of what the public knows is based on "lies and falsehoods" generated by "political witch hunts."

When his trial begins in St. Louis on May 14, the governor said, the public will learn the truth and he will be exonerated.

However, he declined requests from the House committee to tell his story, so the timeline below - based on the report submitted by the House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight, testimony it heard and has published, and separate News Tribune reports written during the committee's work - does not include his version of events.

The House committee said that, at times, K.S. gave conflicting testimony. But, in general, the report said: "The Committee finds Witness 1 to be an overall credible witness."

 

The timeline of meetings between Eric Greitens and K.S. ("Witness 1"), taken from the House committee report and her transcribed testimony to it:

2013

Greitens becomes K.S.' client at a St. Louis hair salon.

She told the House committee: "He became a regular client of mine. And - I don't know. I saw him pretty regularly, unless he was traveling. Seemed pretty typicalwe got to know each other pretty well, and I thought he was great. I thought he was this perfect guy."

There is no record of how many times Greitens made or kept hair appointments.

Fall 2014-March 2015

Greitens doesn't make any appointments with K.S.

March 7, 2015

Greitens has an appointment.

"(W)hen I saw Eric was coming in that time, I was super nervous because he was one of - you know, really, my only client that I had somewhat of a crush on and thought he was this great guy, and so I just felt kind of nervous having him come in, and because I thought that maybe he didn't come in to see me after that time because he felt bad flirting with me, because he was having a baby soon."

But, she told the House Committee, during that appointment, Greitens moved his hand up her leg and "all the way up to (her) crotch," without her consent.

Later that day, Greitens attempted to call K.S. on her cellphone, but she did not answer.

K.S. told the committee: "I was at least curious. Did he have the same feelings for me?

"Was he going through something similar (to her separation from her now ex-husband) with his wife? Why did he feel like he could do that? Because he didn't know I was separated. So, anyway so I was at least curious. I didn't want to talk to him, but I did want him to call me."

Around March 14, 2015

K.S. called Greitens while she was out with friends in St. Louis' Central West End area.

"(W)e were trying to have a conversation in code of sorts, like, I'm really - my friend is really curious (about) what happened and why it was kind of in code.

"The way he was talking, I could tell he was most likely at his house because he wasn't really talking."

They met for a few minutes in an alleyway behind Starbucks.

K.S. told the committee: "He kind of hugged me and just said, 'Listen, calm down, it's not it'll be okay. I have an idea of, you know, of a time when we can talk about this openly.

"'Next weekend, my wife is going out of town, you can come over to my house, we can discuss these things, because I have to get back to my house in a minute.'"

March 20, 2015

K.S. called Greitens from her salon and told him, "I don't feel comfortable coming to your house, can you please meet me at Starbucks or Coffee Cartel?"

She said he told her he could not be seen in public with her because he was running for office and people would be watching him, especially in the Central West End.

Instead, he insisted they meet at his house, where she could "come in through the back door, nobody will see you, we can talk, you can get back to work, it'll be fine."

March 21, 2015

K.S. arrived at the back door to Greitens' home at approximately 7 a.m., about 45 minutes before she needed to be at work.

She said Greitens made a "shush motion" to her, took her purse and keys, removed all items from her purse and searched it, patted her down from head to toe, then went back outside to check if anyone had seen her enter the home.

K.S. said she was nervous and Greitens attempted to calm her down. He asked her if she could come back later, after work, but she said she had to pick up her kids when she got off at 4 p.m.

Then, she testified, Greitens told her: "I thought about you so much, and I have this idea, and it's to make you feel good. I feel like you haven't been treated good in so long."

She said she told him: "I want to talk to you. I want to know what is going on in your relationship. You don't even know what's going on in mine."

And he told her, she said: "I know but we don't have a whole lot of time. Have you exercised today?"

She said Greitens appeared to be "on a mission, sort of, like this kind of high energy."

K.S. told the House committee Greitens had clothes waiting for her to change into.

He told her to "take off everything you're wearing and put on these clothes. Just trust me. I just want to make you feel good."

Using a small bathroom next to the kitchen, she said, she changed into "a man's white T-shirt that he had cut a slit at the top, and the pants were men's pajama pants."

Then, she said, Greitens said he would show her "how to do a proper pull-up," and she believed "this is going to be some sort of sexy workout."

Greitens then led her to the basement.

K.S. told the committee she was "shocked" and "confused," and would not have been "okay with a normal sexual encounter with him if he said, 'Hey, I just want to have sex in the basement.'"

Greitens then taped her hands to exercise pull-up rings, put a blindfold on her, then spit water into her mouth, "at which point I realized he's trying to kiss me, but I don't even want to kiss him."

She said Greitens then started "kissing down my neck and he starts kissing kind of like down to my chest. And he takes the shirt and rips it open" - then commented on a scar on her stomach before "kissing down (her) stomach" and "pull(ing) down (her) pants."

That's when, she said, he stepped back and she heard a sound like someone taking a picture with a cellphone and saw "a flash through the blindfold."

She told the committee she felt like her "privacy was invaded" - but never saw an actual picture.

The committee report at this point quotes testimony released by the governor's attorneys, in a motion filed in the St. Louis criminal case, including K.S.' deposition testimony that she believed she had seen a phone, but "I haven't talked about it because I don't know if it's because I'm remembering it through a dream."

However, K.S. told the committee Greitens then said, "You're not going to mention my name. Don't even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, I'm going to take these pictures, and I'm going to put them everywhere I can. They are going to be everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are."

When she didn't say anything, K.S. told the committee, "he spanked me and said, 'Are you going to mention my name?'

"And I said - I just gritted through my teeth and I said, 'No.' And he's like, 'Good - now that's a good girl.'"

Then, she said, Greitens began kissing down her stomach again, and "as soon as he got, like, low on me, I just started freaking out and I started ripping down my hands.

"I was like, 'Get me out of here. I'm not ready for this. I don't want this. I don't want this.'"

After getting freed from rings, K.S. started to leave, but said Greitens "grabs me and like like, in a bear hug, and was like, 'Shh, shh, it's okay, calm down, calm down,' and like, (gently) lays me down on this ground in the basement."

She was crying uncontrollably, she said, and "he was trying to, like fondle my body."

She said he undid his pants and, eventually, she felt she "had no other choice if she were going to get out of the basement" than to have oral sex.

She said she "maybe" felt coerced because "I felt as though that would allow me to leave."

Afterward, K.S. said, she went upstairs, changed back into her clothes and went to work.

But when she left, she forgot her keys.

Later that day after work, K.S. returned to Greitens' home to retrieve the keys.

She said she confronted him about the picture, "and he said, 'I know but you have to understand, I'm running for office, and people will get me, and I have to have some sort of thing to protect myself. And I thought about you, though, and I felt bad, so I erased it.'

"I didn't believe him, but at least, he, like, acknowledged that it was messed up and had a reason why."

But, she added, "He was back to kind of being that guy that I knew from the salon. It was extremely charismatic, very kept looking at me straight in my eyes and engaged - like, I felt like he cared about me. He kept trying to hug me and touch me and kind of fondle me, meaning, like maybe hugging me and trying to put his hand up my shirt.

"And at this point, it - I was really kind of mixed, because I hated him from earlier, but I also loved the man that I knew before."

March 24 or 25, 2015

K.S. tells her now ex-husband, identified as P.S. in the St. Louis documents and as "Witness 3" in the House report, about the encounter.

P.S. recorded that conversation without K.S.' knowledge and later provided copies to several news organizations, including KMOV-TV in St. Louis, which ultimately aired a story about the affair on Jan. 10, 2018.

Early April 2015

Greitens has a hair appointment at the salon.

K.S. said his first question was, ""You didn't tell anybody, did you?"

K.S. said she had not, and Greitens told her that he could not quit thinking about her and wanted to see her again, she told the committee.

Later in April 2015

Greitens arrives at salon 30 minutes early, so he's the first appointment of the day.

She told the committee: "When he showed up, I consensually kissed him - so that would have been like the first time that I was - that was totally my decision.

"He came in - at that time we stayed clothed and everything, but essentially made out. And then he - my client - my coworkers showed up, I did his hair and he left."

May 2015

K.S. told the committee she was reading a book outside the salon, Greitens stopped his car and invited her to the house that evening.

She agreed to meet him for "a little bit" and went to his house sometime around 6:30 p.m., entered through the back door, and had consensual oral sex.

June 2015

K.S. said she went out with girlfriends on a Saturday night, then went to Greitens' home about 10 p.m.

"At first (it) was consensual, you know - he has a spare bedroom upstairs and took me up there, and we were, like making out at this point. My guess is at least semi-nude at and he looks at me and asked me 'Have you been intimate with anybody?'

"And I said, 'What do you mean?'

"And he said, 'Well, since you and I started' - because he knew that I had been separated from my husband.

"And I said, 'Well, I slept with my husband.'

"And he slapped me across my face, just like hard."

"(And) he just said, 'No. Like, that was you're mine. This is what do you mean you slept with your husband? You are not supposed to be sleeping with him, you know?'

"And I said, 'I think you're screwed up from being in the Navy.'"

K.S. also told the committee she did not believe the slap was intended to physically hurt her, but that "I felt like he was trying to claim me."

But afterward, she said, "(W)e laid there and talked about him being in the Navy and what happened there."

Later in June 2015

K.S. talked with Greitens a few times over the next week via a burner phone that he had purchased, then "saw him one more time, which was in the morning before work."

Greitens asked if she wanted to come over to work out.

"(W)e did exercise and went through, like, a workout, and then at the end of it, then it turned sexual in nature.

"And at first it was fine and out of nowhere, just, like, (he) kind of smacked me and grabbed me and shoved me down on the ground."

She said she started bawling, then recovered, got dressed and went to work.

That afternoon, she said, Greitens met her after work, asked her to follow him, and she got into his car after they reached a Kmart parking lot.

There, he told her that someone had sent his wife an email about their affair.

Greitens suspected an unidentified "Democratic operative that lives in my neighborhood," but K.S. thought it was her husband, P.S.

P.S. later confirmed to the committee that he sent the emails to Sheena Greitens, the report said.

The committee released the texts of two emails that P.S. sent to Sheena Greitens.

The first said: "There is another woman in your home right now. I'm assuming you're out of town again. If you want to know more, contact me here.

"I'm sorry. This isn't fake or spam.

"They are at the Maryland (Avenue) address."

The second one said: "Today was not the first time he has had her in your home."

K.S. testified Greitens was going to tell his wife that he had given K.S. a tour of the home after she "came up to the door to get a book for (her) daughter."

K.S. said she told Greitens they should stop seeing each other: "Do not come into the salon. This is not fair to me, this is not fair to your wife, just leave me alone."

October 2015

Greitens went to the salon.

K.S. told him she doesn't want to see him again, and Greitens told her his wife "doesn't think anything."

Afterward, K.S. told her husband about Greitens' visit to the salon, and told the House committee he "flipped out (and) got super angry with me."

She said her husband said: "How dare you even cut his hair? He's going to continue to do this because he wants to maintain some control over you, just in case."

She also said her husband told her: "I'm going to ruin this guy."

That night, K.S. sent Greitens an email stating: "Please think of everyone involved and just leave me alone. Don't come in at all."

And, K.S. told the committee, they never saw each other again.

July 16, 2015

Candidate Eric Greitens made his first public campaign stop in Jefferson City.

He was introduced at Downtown Diner by state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, who said Greitens was a "a man who, I think, could be the greatest conservative leader Missouri has ever had."

February 2016

Greitens filed to run for governor.

Nov. 8, 2016

Greitens won the governorship, beating Democrat Chris Koster 51.1 percent to 45.57 percent.

Jan. 9, 2017

Greitens took the oath of office as Missouri's 56th governor.

Jan. 10, 2018

Greitens delivered his second State of the State address.

Shortly after the speech ended, KMOV-TV of St. Louis - based on information and audio recordings provided by P.S. - reported about the governor's 2015 affair and the possibility that a photo had been taken of K.S.

Feb. 22, 2018

St. Louis City grand jury indicted Greitens, charging him with invasion of privacy, citing a photograph. The charge is a Class D felony that, if there's a conviction, could result in a prison sentence of up to four years.

Later that day, House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, indicated he would form a committee to investigate allegations against the governor, and Greitens' attorneys said they would "welcome reviewing this issue with the independent, bipartisan committee of the Missouri House of Representatives."

The attorneys promised to "work with the committee," after faulting St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner for refusing to meet with the governor.

Feb. 27, 2018

Richardson formed the House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight to look into the governor's legal situation, naming Barnes as chairman; state Rep. Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City, as vice chair; GOP Reps. Jeanie Lauer, Blue Springs; Kevin Austin, Springfield; and Shaun Rhoads, West Plains; and Democrats Gina Mitten, Richmond Heights, who is the assistant House minority leader and Tommie Pierson Jr., St. Louis.

Barnes, Austin and Mitten are attorneys. Phillips and Rhoads are retired law enforcement officers.

Feb. 28, 2018

Barnes contacted attorneys Ed Dowd, counsel for Greitens; Scott Simpson, counsel for K.S.; and Al Watkins, counsel for P.S., and asked all to produce documents for the committee's use.

The report said only Greitens' attorneys "declined to provide any documents, stating that they were under a non-disclosure order from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis in an existing criminal case not to disclose documents from that case.

"However, the Committee notes that only one of the requests for documents to Greitens involved documents from the current pending case."

March 1, 2018

The House passed a resolution authorizing the committee's work, including allowing it to have closed meetings, by a 154-0 vote.

March 6, 2018

The committee held its only public session, where the members voted to hold a closed session at the Jefferson City Police Department the next day.

March 7, 2018

The committee met in the JCPD classroom for about four hours, with the room's blinds closed and black plastic covering the doors into the classroom area. The committee's report said the panel interviewed K.S.

March 9, 2018

The committee again met at the police station and, the report said, interviewed a woman identified only as "Witness 2," who said she was "a close friend" of K.S. They also interviewed P.S., the now-ex-husband of K.S.

Later that day, St. Louis lawyer Albert Watkins, P.S.' attorney, told reporters during a 27-minute news conference outside the police station that Greitens and his "shills or surrogates" were "slut-shaming" the governor's former mistress and were doing "malicious maligning, with racial undertones" of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gardner.

March 12, 2018

Meeting at the police station, the committee interviewed "Witness 4," another "close friend" of K.S., who said she had known K.S. for 30 years.

She told the committee she also spoke with K.S. "soon after" the March 21, 2015, encounter, and the committee said her testimony "about the contents of her conversation with (K.S.) are consistent with key portions of (K.S.)' testimony before the Committee."

March 14, 2018

The committee interviewed Michael Hafner of The Mission Continues, the charity for veterans Greitens founded in 2007.

Comments in the transcript from March 12 indicate he was to discuss the use of a list of the charity's donors by the Greitens campaign.

There was no transcript of the March 14 hearing in the documents the committee released Wednesday.

March 22, 2018

The committee report says Barnes "sent requests for sworn answers to interrogatories to counsel for Greitens, and requested that counsel be prepared at a meeting the next morning to provide available dates and times at which Greitens could testify before the committee."

March 23, 2018

The committee report says Barnes, Phillips and two House staff attorneys "met informally with Ed Dowd, counsel for Greitens, and Ross Garber, counsel for the Office of the Governor of Missouri," and asked that the governor's lawyers "inform the Committee by Monday, March 26, 2018, whether Greitens intended to exercise or waive his right to testify before the committee."

March 26, 2018

Greitens' lawyers told Barnes the governor "would decline to testify before the Committee at this point in time."

April 3, 2018

The committee met in the House Human Resources office in the Capitol's basement "to discuss the process for redactions of the record and drafting of this report."

April 5, 2018

The committee "met to vote on redactions of the record and discuss a draft of this report."

Later that day, Greitens' lawyers asked the committee to delay release of report until after the May 14 trial for fear of tainting the jury pool.

Barnes said the report would be released "next week."

At a news conference, House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, noted Greitens already was spending $50,000 on advertising to sway public opinion.

April 9, 2018

After another closed meeting in the Capitol, Mitten told reporters the committee had voted to continue its work after the report was released.

April 10, 2018

After another closed meeting in the Capitol, Mitten told reporters: "I believe that, by and large, the members of the committee have taken this job very, very seriously and are focusing on that and not on partisanship. We are focusing on the investigation under the parameters of the resolution, and that we take that very seriously and are doing our work in that regard."

April 11, 2018

Greitens held a five-minute news briefing at 4:15 p.m., where he denounced the soon-to-be-released report as "incomplete" and containing "fabrications and lies."

At 5 p.m., the committee released its report online.

Later that day, Richardson announced the committee would continue investigating issues through the May 18 end of the session.

He also announced that House and Senate leaders agreed they would seek signatures for the Legislature to call itself into special session, immediately after the regular session ends.