ST. LOUIS _ A St. Louis man paroled from prison after murdering three people in the 1970s is heading back after killing a woman he said he suspected of stealing from him at his St. Louis apartment complex earlier this year.
Torrance C. Epps, 79, pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, assault, two gun charges and two counts of armed criminal action. St. Louis Circuit Judge Dennis Schaumann accepted terms of a deal with prosecutors and sentenced Epps to 18 years in prison.
The judge asked Epps to explain why on Jan. 19 he rolled his wheelchair through the Lafayette Towne senior housing complex where he lived, shooting at people and killing Tiandra Johnson, 32, in the complex's office. Johnson was a manager at the complex. Epps claimed he saw Johnson watch him leave earlier that day and suspected her of entering his apartment with a backup key from the office to steal from him.
"It was my life savings," Epps said from his wheelchair Monday.
"Is that a reason to shoot somebody?" Schaumann asked.
"I was awfully upset," Epps said. "I'm awfully sorry."
Epps told Schaumann he had "no doubt" about pleading guilty. After the judge read each charge, Epps responded emphatically, "Guilty as charged."
Asked about any health problems, Epps told the judge he took "plenty" of medications to treat four blood clots stemming from being hit by a bus.
Police have said Epps had reported a break-in at his apartment and items missing in the days before the shooting. He first fired several shots at a woman near her apartment, then went to the leasing office and pointed a revolver at another person before shooting Johnson. It was about 1 p.m. that day.
Johnson, who lived in the 3800 block of McRee Avenue, was found dead in a hallway of the senior housing complex.
Epps had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the fatal shootings on Dec. 3, 1973, of three of his wife's relatives in their St. Louis home. He murdered his wife's mother, Pauline Clark, 44, and his wife's grandparents, Matthew and Pauline Sherman, both 72, with a revolver.
Epps had served 14 years when he was first paroled in September 1988 and sent to a halfway house. He escaped a month later and was a fugitive for eight years. He was caught in a food stamp fraud crackdown when he paid an undercover federal agent $380 for $615 in food stamps, and was returned to prison. He was paroled in 2003.
