ST. LOUIS — St. Louis police say they used a homicide victim’s phone to help track down his alleged killer.
De’Marcus Currie, 18, is being held for the murder of 18-year-old Tyler Leeper, of O’Fallon, Missouri. Leeper was shot May 4 in the 4800 block of Minnesota Avenue in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
In publicly available documents, police do not identify Leeper as the victim. However, Leeper was shot to death on that day on that block.
According to the probable cause statement, Currie admitted that he and two others set up Leeper to steal his gun. When Leeper resisted, he was shot several times with a handgun and a rifle. He died in a hospital.
The statement notes that detectives searched Leeper’s phone and discovered a Cash App transaction that led them to identifying Currie as a suspect. Currie and Leeper knew each other, the statement says.
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Currie was charged Friday with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree robbery for stealing the gun. He is being held without bond.
Currie lives in the 4600 block of Redfield Court, in Norwood Court.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tracks the data behind reported homicides on an interactive map that allows readers to explore information in various ways.
