Bio 

Bruce W. Kilgore was born on August 28, 1960. He had a Missouri criminal record before murdering Marilyn Wilkins. Before the 1986 murder, Kilgore had already been convicted of robbery. On June 29, 1979, he was sentenced in St. Louis City to three concurrent seven-year prison terms for three counts of second-degree robbery. This prior criminal record later became relevant during his capital sentencing.

By 1986, Kilgore was connected to Willie Luckett, a former employee of Cristo’s Restaurant in St. Louis. Luckett had been fired after Marilyn Wilkins, another restaurant employee, told management that he had been stealing food. This led to a plan involving Luckett, Kilgore, and Luckett’s girlfriend, Renee Dickerson, to rob Wilkins after she left work.

Murder Story

On August 25, 1986, Willie Luckett was fired from Cristo’s Restaurant in St. Louis after Marilyn Wilkins told management that he had been stealing food. Two days later, on August 27, 1986, Luckett, Renee Dickerson, and Bruce Kilgore planned to rob Wilkins. That evening, Kilgore and Luckett drove to the restaurant in a borrowed car and waited for Wilkins to finish work.

Between about 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Wilkins left the restaurant and walked toward her car. Before she could reach it, Kilgore and Luckett pulled up beside her. Luckett forced her into the vehicle, and Kilgore drove away. During the drive, Luckett held Wilkins face down in the back seat and ordered her to remove her rings. When Wilkins recognized Luckett’s voice, Luckett removed his stocking mask and told her she would be killed because she knew who he was.

Wilkins was taken to Kinloch in north St. Louis County. She was stabbed several times, and her throat was cut. The fatal wound was described as a deep laceration across the throat that severed the jugular veins on both sides and severely damaged the trachea. She also had other stab wounds to the neck and back, along with defensive wounds on her right hand.

The next day, August 28, 1986, Kilgore, Luckett, and Luckett’s cousin, Lessie Vance, went to a pawn shop and sold two of the rings taken from Wilkins. Kilgore and Luckett divided the money. Later, Kilgore and Luckett decided to move Wilkins’s body because they believed it had been left too close to Luckett’s residence. Her body was found on August 29, 1986, in Forest Park near the St. Louis Art Museum.

Kilgore and Luckett were arrested on September 3, 1986. During the trial, Renee Dickerson testified that Kilgore told her he had slit Wilkins’s throat. Kilgore disputed that account and later argued that Luckett was the person who killed Wilkins. Prosecutors maintained that the evidence supported Kilgore’s direct role in the stabbing.

Kilgore was tried in St. Louis City Circuit Court beginning August 17, 1987. On August 23, 1987, he was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and kidnapping. On August 25, the jury recommended the death penalty. On October 23, 1987, the court sentenced him to death.

The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Kilgore’s conviction and sentence in 1989. The court noted that the jury found several aggravating factors, including that the murder was committed for money, to avoid arrest, during robbery and kidnapping, and that the killing involved torture or depravity of mind.

Kilgore continued to challenge his conviction and sentence through state and federal appeals. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of federal habeas relief in 1997. Final review was denied, and the Missouri Supreme Court set his execution date for June 16, 1999. Bruce W. Kilgore was executed by lethal injection in Missouri on June 16, 1999.