PREGNANT MOTHER OF 2 STABBED TO DEATH BY MAN SHE CONNECTED WITH ON A MESSAGING APP

Missouri man charged with killing pregnant woman he met on app 

 

By Joshua Rhett Miller 

 

New York Post

December 3, 2020 

A Missouri man has been charged with murdering a young pregnant woman and her unborn child after she was stabbed more than 20 times, prosecutors said Thursday.

Damion Delgado, 27, of O’Fallon, is facing charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Amethyst J. Killian, a pregnant 22-year-old St. Peters woman found dead Friday just a block away from her home. She had been reported missing a day earlier on Thanksgiving.

“This was not a random act of violence,” St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar told reporters. “It was a targeted act of violence.”

Killian, a mother of two who was five months pregnant, was stabbed mostly in the head, neck and abdomen, Lohmar said.

She met up with Delgado after connecting with him on a messaging app called TextNow and 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,” Lohmar said.

The prosecutor declined to elaborate during the press conference, but a source close to the matter told The Post they had met up for consensual sex. The pair last communicated on the app at 1:15 a.m. on Thanksgiving, a statement of probable cause shows.

Evidence at the crime scene, including droplets of blood and surveillance video from a gas station, led investigators to Delgado, Lohmar said.

Detectives went to Delgado’s home on Tuesday and found that he had attempted suicide by cutting his arms on the front porch of his home a day earlier, Lohmar said.

Delgado, who was taken to a hospital for treatment, was later charged with murdering Killian and her unborn child after his DNA matched evidence at the crime scene and a suspected murder weapon, authorities said.

Lohmar said the second-degree murder count he faces is in connection to Killian’s unborn fetus.

Killian was the mother of a 6-year-old girl, Marley, and an 11-month-old boy, Hendrix, relatives have said. She lived with her mother, stepfather, two children and her boyfriend, KSDK previously reported.

Delgado, who was charged late Wednesday, was in custody Thursday on $1 million bond, Lohmar said, adding that he had “very little” previous criminal history. It was not immediately clear if he’s hired an attorney.

Asked about a motive for the slaying, Lohmar said Delgado has not divulged anything to detectives.

“I wish I knew a motive at this point — we don’t,” Lohmar said. “You’ve got a very, very violent killing. There has to be some motive out there; at this point we don’t know what that is. The person who could tell us that is the defendant and so far he’s chosen not to do so.”