A Missouri man has been charged with the murder of a young pregnant woman and her unborn child by stabbing her at least 20 times on Thanksgiving Day, police said. Damion Delgado, 27, had reportedly met Amethyst "Ame" Killian, 22, online. Killian had gone missing a day earlier.
According to police, Delgado also tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists on his front porch a couple of days after killing Killian. However, he was treated at a hospital and discharged later. It is still not known what the two were doing and what led Delgado to ruthlessly murder Killian.
Brutal Murder
Killian, who lives in St. Peters, was found dead a day after Thanksgiving, near a block just away from her home. She had been reported missing since the Thanksgiving Day and was five months pregnant when she was slain. She also has a six-year-old daughter and an 11-month-old son.
Killian came to know Delgado after she met him on a messaging app called TextNow. However, the reason behind the gruesome murder isn't known yet. The pair were "engaged in a potentially dangerous situation" prior to her death, Lohmar said.
"Aside from that, there was no connection between the victim and Delgado," he further said. "This was not a random act of violence," St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar said. "It was a targeted act of violence." Lohmar said that Killian was stabbed more than 20 times, mostly in the head, neck and abdomen.
Found Dead Under Mysterious Conditions
It is not known what they were doing before the murder. Moreover, investigators are puzzled about what led to the murder since the two had only met recently and did not share any relationship. In fact, according to investigators, Killian had come to know Delgado only a day before the incident. Moreover, Delgado has very little prior criminal history and did not have any motive for the "very violent killing."
According to police, Killian's family had no idea that she was meeting Delgado. She was reported missing by her family, who said she'd left home around 1:30 that morning to buy cigarettes and never returned. Moreover, Killian has a boyfriend.
Her boyfriend and stepfather began looking for her. Around 20 hours after she had left home, they found her purse and some of her clothes at Old Towne Park, less than 500 feet from home. They informed the St. Peters Police Department.
Evidence at the crime scene that included droplets of blood and surveillance video from a gas station led police to track down Delgado. When police finally traced him to his home on Tuesday, they found that he had attempted suicide by cutting his arms on the front porch of his home a day earlier.
He was taken to a nearby hospital and was discharged after treatment. Investigation is still on but Delgado isn't cooperating. He hasn't divulged anything about the motive behind the murder. Delgado was charged late Wednesday and was in custody on Thursday on $1 million bond.
