ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Prosecutors did not hold back when describing the events of March, 2018. St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell remarks, “The judge said it well when he told this offender that he had submitted three innocent people to ‘a horror show and will now pay the price by being removed from civilized society.'”
A St. Louis County man has pled guilty today to firing shots into the home of a Chesterfield couple and assaulting a family member in 2018. Phillip Stroisch, 46, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and has to register as a sex offender. The nature of the felonies means Stroisch will be serving 85% of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Stroisch ran from police after a series of violent crimes on March 5th. He kidnapped his wife and plead guilty to smothering, strangling, hitting, punching, pistol-whipping her, and then sexually assaulting her. His wife escaped running to the home of a couple for who Stroisch was doing construction work for.
Stroisch then went to the home and fired shots into it. The couple inside the house was seriously injured after the bullets started flying. His wife was taken to the hospital for an exam after police showed up.
He then fled to Arkansas and the trail went cold for several days.
A couple of eagle-eyed St. Louisans spotted Stroisch days later in a small town. They watched the news in St. Louis and recognized the wanted man and his vehicle in the town of Bald Knob. It is around 300 miles from St. Louis.
They called police and Stroisch led officers on a police chase that ended in Beebe, Arkansas. He shot himself twice in the head while he was being apprehended. You can see that he is missing his left eye in the booking photos. He also crashed into the police cars.
The officers in Arkansas were not injured. Stroisch was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
“The detectives and our trial team built a strong case that made this guilty plea possible and spared these victims the ordeal of confronting their tormentor at trial,” said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
Stroisch testified to the court during the plea hearing that this head injury did not impact his judgment in entering the guilty plea.
“We want to again thank Mr. and Mrs. Williams for their actions that directly led to the arrest of Stroisch who was on the run in Arkansas. Not only did the Williams’ recognize the suspect’s vehicle driving in Arkansas after seeing a news report in St Louis, they continued to work directly with Chesterfield PD and Arkansas authorities in real time, making sure the suspect was arrested and no longer a danger to anyone. They were true heroes that day,” a statement from Chesterfield Police.
