The note he handed the teller at the check cashing store read, "5,000 NOW Good Friend."

41-year-old Joshua Harris was identified through fingerprints on Tuesday by the St. Louis County medical examiner's office. Police were mum, refusing to provide his name or say where their investigation stands. @stltoday

Police confirm a man died in the shooting and they’re searching for the killer. This is the first homicide in Clayton since 2006. @stltoday

A neighbor describes hearing five or six gunshots just outside her bedroom window in the Moorlands neighborhood of Clayton before sunup today. A man’s flipflop and police evidence markers are in the lot. @stltoday stltoday.com/news/local/crim…

Motorist charged in road-rage shooting death in Fenton stltoday.com/news/local/crim… via @stltoday

Black smoke was so thick that firefighter Sharon Davis couldn't see the doors. She went into the building in street clothes, without an air tank that firefighters normally wear.  "If I had stood out on the street, people would have died.” @stltoday

A man surrendered to police Wednesday morning and led them to a home in the Benton Park West neighborhood to find the bodies of two men he had slain, authorities said. stltoday.com/news/local/crim… via @stltoday

"I didn't see his gun until it was already too late," coach Shaquille Latimore said. "I ran, and he shot me in the back. I fell and he shot me a couple more times." @stltoday

Read the chilling account from court records of Boyd’s 2007 crime. He approached a 9-year-old boy on a sidewalk in Greene County — saying “Boo. Did I scare you?” — then lured him to a remote area and demanded sex acts for about $2 in change. The boy managed to escape. @stltoday

Based on MetroLink surveillance video, the killers needed just six minutes to follow the victim off the train, kill him and board another train to return to St. Louis. @stltoday

“I’ve locked up murderers and bank robbers — but after reading what he did to these young woman just makes my blood boil," police Major Steve Runge said. Enrique White is charged with raping women he met on a dating site under the guise he was hiring a house cleaner. @stltoday

Man on the run after being charged in road-rage killing in St. Louis County stltoday.com/news/local/crim… via @stltoday

Murder charges filed against Jennings man who shot people on way to July 4 barbecue stltoday.com/news/local/crim… via @stltoday

Fireworks were heard all evening in the St. Charles County neighborhood where a man died in a garage fire. "It's World War III around here, " one neighbor said. "People were doing those mortar shells all night." rb.gy/kepga

Sheriff Dave Marshak said his office was misled about the DWI crash that fatally injured a deputy’s wife in April. The Festus chief told the Sheriff’s Office the deputy showed “no signs of impairment” — even though it was revealed Tuesday the deputy’s BAC at .17%, Marshak said.

In a final written statement, Michael Tisius said he tried hard “to become a better man,” and he expressed remorse for his crimes. “I am sorry,” he wrote. “And not because I am at the end. But because I truly am sorry.” — reporting by Jim Salter of the Associated Press

In 2000, @VirginiaYoung covered a botched jailbreak in Randolph County that killed two jailers and landed Michael Tisius on death row. This story includes an interview with Owen Acton, father of one of the jail guards. rb.gy/8epg6 @stltoday

The Post-Dispatch filed Sunshine Law requests with the department to obtain internal clearance reports that list each case that was “cleared” (or solved) and its status. At least 7 times, police listed a case as cleared but prosecutors refused to file charges. @stltoday