Clayton, MO (KTRS) The suspect in the Catholic Supply store sexual assault and murder is expected to make his first court appearance Monday morning.
Fifty-three-year-old Thomas Bruce is charged on several counts, including first degree murder in the death of 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt. Authorities allege that Bruce entered the Ballwin store last week and said he was shopping, then left briefly before returning with a handgun. He forced the three women into the back room, told them to strip, exposed himself and ordered them to “perform deviant sexual acts on him,” detectives wrote in the criminal complaint.
Two of the women complied but Schmidt refused, so he shot her in the head, they wrote. The attacker ordered the other women to continue performing the sexual acts on him, and he later fled, apparently able to blend in along the busy street in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, a visitation will be held Monday for the mother of three at Chapel Hill Mortuary in Cedar Hill from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.
A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Anthony Catholic Church in High Ridge.