OFF THE WIRE
BY CHRISTINE BYERS • cbyers@post-dispatch.com > 314-863-2821 | Posted: Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Pressure on defendants in a federal marijuana investigation appears to have shaken loose the answers to the mysterious disappearances of three St. Louis-area men in 2007.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch on Tuesday announced murder charges against five members of a motorcycle gang known as the Invaders. The Post-Dispatch first profiled the Invaders last year after court documents revealed that federal indictments for a marijuana conspiracy linked the gang to the disappearances.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan told reporters Tuesday that as a result of those federal charges, "We had certain defendants cooperate" with the murder investigations.
Alan Little, 61, vanished shortly after returning to his home in the 10000 block of Niblic Drive in northwestern St. Louis County on May 31, 2007, after serving time in prison. His remains were found in a sinkhole in the Ste. Genevieve County town of St. Mary in April 2009.
Randy Greenman, 39, and George Whitter, 36, vanished in September 2007 after leaving a south St. Louis bar. Weeks later, their mutilated remains were found miles away and miles apart.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch said that Little and Greenman were killed for disobeying the gang's protocol over its marijuana distribution network but that Whitter was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All the men had been shot.
Those charged Tuesday include:
• Stephen "Sticky Steve" Morris, 47, of the 17000 block of St. Mary Church Road in St. Mary: second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of Little.
• Edward "Special Ed" Boroughf, 40, of the 500 block of Sappington Barracks Road: one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action in the killing of Little, two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, one count of second-degree arson and two counts of hindering prosecution in the killings of Greenman and Whitter.
• Herman "Oz" Ozwalt, 63, of Nelson Circle in Eureka: two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of hindering prosecution in the killings of all three men.
• Eugene Smith, 55, of the 1500 block of Kraft Street in St. Louis: one charge of second-degree arson and one count of hindering prosecution.
• Raymond Bodway, 38, of the 100 block of Mann Avenue in South County is charged with hindering prosecution.
Morris and Ozwalt picked up Little from prison and drove him to his home, where they shot and killed him, McCulloch said. His remains were found on property that until recently belonged to the parents of an Invader.
Little had been a member of the gang, but Greenman and Whitter were not. Greenman, however, had been involved in the marijuana distribution scheme and had been summoned to Boroughf's house along Sappington Barracks Road the night of his slaying, McCulloch said. Once there, Boroughf and Ozwalt shot Greenman and discovered Whitter was waiting in Greenman's car. Whitter had hitched a ride home with Greenman, so they killed him, too.
Bodway then helped Ozwalt and Boroughf dispose of the bodies.
Jefferson County investigators initiated the murder investigation after most of Greenman's remains were found near a subdivision being built off Highway A near Festus in September 2007.
All of those charged in the murders are in custody, McCulloch said.
"I don't think there's much left of the Invaders," he said. "But there are some."
