The State Supreme Court has set a May 1st execution date for Christopher Simmons, who was convicted of the 1993, killing of Shirley Crook of Fenton. On September 9th, 1993, Simmons and a 15-year-old accomplice broke into the home of Mrs. Crook to commit a burglary. The woman was bound and gagged. Simmons and his accomplice then drove Mrs. Crook’s minivan to a railroad trestle above the Meramec River in Castlewood State Park and threw her off the trestle. Her body was discovered by two fishermen two days later. A jury brought into Jefferson County from Cape Girardeau County found Simmons guilty of first-degree murder and recommended the death penalty.
