ST. LOUIS — A second suspect has been charged in the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl and her father in the Central West End.
Andre Anderson was charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action for what police and prosecutors said was his role in the deaths of Dmyah Fleming and Darion Rankin-Fleming.
Court documents indicate cellphone records and witness statements that place Anderson at the scene of the crime.
On Jan. 24, St. Louis police officers responded to the 4000 block of Laclede Avenue. They arrived to find Rankin-Fleming and Dmyah inside a parked car with gunshot wounds. Rankin-Fleming, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene. Dmyah, 7, was rushed to a hospital where she died a short time later.
Police announced the first arrest in the case back in April. Javonn Javontay Nettles, 28, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.
Court documents released after the charges were filed indicate Nettles’ fingerprint was found on a rear passenger door of Rankin-Fleming’s car. Rankin-Fleming and Dmyah had been shot through open passenger side doors of the car, investigators reported.
Ballistics evidence from the scene revealed the father and daughter were shot with two different guns.
Police said they also looked through Rankin-Fleming’s cellphone and found he had been in touch with Nettles right before the murder and that they planned to meet up that night.
"A message from the defendant to the victim indicated that the defendant was trying to locate the victim," a probable cause statement reads, adding that calls between the two continued up until moments before the shooting.
“There are no communications from the defendant to the victim after the time of the murder,” the statement reads.
Nettles told police he didn't see Rankin-Fleming the night he died.
Police cameras in the area of the shooting showed the suspects in a car, which was traced back to a witness who said he lent the vehicle to Anderson. Police tracked down the car and found him inside.
During a police interview, Anderson said he was at home in north city at the time of the shooting.
"However, cellphone tower information placed him in the vicinity of the homicide," investigators wrote in the probable cause statement.
The double shooting of the father and his little girl prompted a reward of up to $40,000 for tips in the case.
In the days after the deadly shooting, family members told 5 On Your Side Rankin-Fleming had just stopped at his house in the Central West End that Saturday night to get a PlayStation 5 he had bought his daughter. He was about to bring her back to her mother’s house – but they never made it.
“We don’t even think they made it in the house because the PS5 and all that stuff was still in the house,” said Selena Johns, Dmyah’s great aunt.
The family pleaded for the person or persons who pulled the trigger to come forward.
“He might be hiding now, but God sees where he’s at, and trust me, He’s trailing him,” Johns said. “I hope you have a heart and turn yourself in, but if not, God will bring justice.”