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Man charged after woman found shot, killed in basement of St. Louis home

Police identified the shooting victim as 34-year-old Deana Beckum
Credit: SLMPD
Deionate Robertson

ST. LOUIS — A 23-year-old man has been charged after a woman was shot and killed in St. Louis on Monday.

Deionate Robertson was charged with first-degree murder, robbery and two counts of armed criminal action. He is being held without bond.

At around 6:42 p.m. on Monday, St. Louis police were called to Union Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive for a hold-up. 

When officers arrived, they found a 44-year-old woman who said she was robbed of $30 by a man driving a green Mercury in an alley near her home and hit her in the face with a gun. 

When she arrived at her house in the 5200 block of Paulian Place, she saw the same car parked near there, according to charging documents. The woman called 911 to provide a description of the car and told them it was the same person who robbed her.

While she was on the phone, she reported hearing two gunshots.

Officers responded to the scene and met the victim, who showed officers where the car was parked. While near the car, an officer saw a man come out of the rear basement stairwell of a home on the 5200 block of Paulian Place.

The man matched the description of the robbery suspect and officers briefly pursued him before taking him into custody.

As officers investigated the scene, they found a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

One of the officers went back to the basement and found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds to the back of her head. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified her as 34-year-old Deana Beckum.

Near the victim’s body, officers found two spent .22 caliber shell casings consistent with the pistol they found.

The robbery victim positively identified Robertson as the man who robbed her.

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