A Missouri man is accused of murdering a mother and her unborn child in front of five children, including her four daughters.
On the afternoon of April 23, Vanier T. Jones allegedly approached the four young daughters of 35-year-old Christina Lynn Rentchler and asked them if they knew where he could find their mother, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case and obtained by PEOPLE.
The affidavit says that the four girls — and one other child who was at the home — then allegedly watched Jones pull out a gun and shoot their mother in the back of the head.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police arrived to find Rentchler “not conscious and not breathing,” the agency said in a release.
Soon after, emergency responders pronounced both Rentchler and her unborn child dead on the scene, said the release.
Det. Scott Peniston of the SLMPD writes in the affidavit that Rentchler “was shot multiple times, and in the back of the head.”
He also notes that the medical examiner later determined that Rentchler had been in the second trimester of her pregnancy at the time of her death.
Jones also allegedly shot another woman, whom SLMPD said was “conscious and breathing” when they arrived on the scene.
The victim is not named in the affidavit or the release, but both note that she told police Jones had been staying with her prior to the shooting.
“She stated [Jones] had gotten angry and shot her. She stated that she then played dead, and heard [Jones] ask [Rentchler’s] children where their mother was prior to [Jones] killing [Rentchler],” the affidavit reads.
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Jones has “multiple prior felony convictions” and was convicted of second-degree assault in 2023, but had “absconded from his federal supervised release at the time of the homicide,” per the affidavit.
He is now being held without bail and facing 17 charges in total, including: two counts of first-degree murder, five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, eight counts of armed criminal action and a single count of both attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Jones does not have a lawyer at this time and will make his next court appearance on May 12.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been created to help Rentchler’s two young daughters.
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