Missouri man walks into police station covered in blood and confesses to murdering girlfriend and teenager on Thanksgiving
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI: A Missouri man who was the suspect in two Thanksgiving Day murders has been arrested and charged after he walked into the police station covered in blood and confessed to the crime.
The 27-year-old, Torry Andre Upchurch, walked into the Jefferson City Police Department on Friday, November 29, and told officers at the lobby, "I know I committed two murders," according to a report by KRCG-TV.
Upchurch first went to the McCarty Street home of 17-year-old Earle Key Jr., who he is believed to have known, knocked on the front door, and shot the teen in the face with a 9 mm handgun when he opened the door, killing him instantly, police said.
After that shooting, which happened at around 6 pm on Thursday, witnesses said they saw a man running from the scene. However, police officers who responded to the scene and searched the area were unable to find him.
At around 8:45 pm the same evening, the police responded to another shooting a few miles away in the 2300 block of Southridge Drive and found 33-year-old Shantae Hill-Cook of Columbia dead on the street with multiple gunshot wounds and her car missing.
Based on information from both scenes, they were able to deduce that the shootings had been committed by the same person.
A witness told them that Upchurch had been in a romantic relationship with Hill-Cook for the last few months and that the 27-year-old was upset that she wanted to help the witness with her belongings and child.
According to a probable cause statement filed in connection to the incidents, Upchurch told Hill-Cook to "stay in the car" before eventually pulling out a handgun and firing at her. The 33-year-old was struck multiple times and died at the scene.
Upchurch fled from the location in Hill-Cook's car, and while authorities were trying to find him, a man dressed in black clothes and covered in blood walked into the lobby of the police department and implicated himself in both homicides.
Upchurch has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a firearm, and unlawful possession of a firearm.