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New Missouri bill to focus on stalking and harassment investigations

The legislation comes after the I-Team heard from numerous women saying their harassment complaints were never thoroughly investigated.

ST. LOUIS — Angela calls it progress; the idea that lawmakers are introducing legislation to strengthen stalking and harassment laws in Missouri.

“It blew my mind,” she said. “To usher in things that are desperately needed: awareness, resources, training.”

Angela said she was a stalking victim of Robert Merkle, the man who pleaded guilty to six counts of harassment against other women in 2017. He’s now accused of committing the same crime after he was released from prison. In some of those cases, he contacted women by text or dating apps and threatened to find, rape or even murder them.

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But Merkle was never charged in Angela's case or multiple other women who came forward to the I-Team. A state lawmaker wants to look at the response to these crimes.

“We decided what we needed to do is have a deeper study of the issue with people that are impacted or can impact the process,” said Missouri State Senator Jill Shupp.

Shupp recently introduced Senate Bill 1215, which would organize a task force of 15 people ranging from law enforcement, victim advocates and harassment victims to improve regulations and protections.

“We are trying to bring these people in the same room to talk about how we cross from one police community to another,” she said. “These perpetrators don’t know boundaries.”

It’s legislation that Angela hopes will lead to change for victims nationwide.

“Maybe some of the people dismissed my story and many other stories because they didn’t know or they just don’t have the resources,” she said. “So the hope with this task force is there is a huge amount of awareness that can be brought to the table.”

Sen. Shupp introduced the bill earlier this month. She’s hoping for bipartisan support so it will be passed this session.

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