Update to St. Louis Hires Murder Suspect’s Company for Demo Contract.
It turns out that the Board for St. Louis City Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority is not the only City entity that had a say on awarding the $3,692,000 contract to S. Shafer Excavating.
The contract is for environmental remediation and demolition services at 4690 and 4700 Goodfellow Blvd, a 16.45-acre former ammunition plant site.
The company is run by Sammy J. Shafer Jr, accused of murder for hire. The alleged driver is Marty D. Shaw, Shafer Jr.’s employee. The alleged shooter is Gary D. Johnson, previously convicted of a different murder, and Shaw’s cousin.
The three are accused of the January 21, 2025, murder of Portia Louise Rowland in Collinsville, Illinois. Rowland was the girlfriend of Sarah Shafer, Shafer Jr.’s wife. She was living with her at the time of the murder. They intended to be married after Shafer’s divorce was finalized.
Shafer Jr. allegedly provided the gun used in the murder and left the $10,000 payment in an excavator at his home. His trial is set for April 27, 2026.
Before LCRA awarded the contract to the accused murder’s company on December 16, 2025, there was a December 9th meeting of the City’s Substantial Awards Selection Committee in which the contract for services on the Goodfellow site were discussed, mostly in closed session. T
his was the meeting where it was decided to recommend S. Shafer Excavating to LCRA.
Members of the Substantial Awards Selection Committee include representatives of Mayor Cara Spencer, Comptroller Donna Baringer, and Board of Alders President Megan Green.
The only records of the committee posted online are Agendas. No meeting materials, exhibits, etc. No Meeting Minutes. No meeting videos. A Transparency Fail.
Did no one from the Board of Estimate and Apportionment- Mayor, Comptroller, Board President- bother to do a records check on Sammy Shafer Jr. and his company?
Or did they just ignore the information readily available?
The Great State of St. Louis 