452: Thomas Bruce

Thomas Bruce was an Evangelical pastor who frequently ranted about his support for Trump. He was a fan of Laura Ingraham as well. He founded an Evangelical church in 2003, left it in 2007, and worked at various ministries and churches since then.

In 2018, he went to the Catholic Supply store in Ballwin, Missouri, and told three women to have sex with him. He held a gun on them. One of the women resisted he murdered her. He raped the other two women. Two months earlier, a 77-year-old woman had been raped in her home with no leads for the police. His attack in Ballwin led the police to also charging him with that crime.

He was charged with murder, sodomy, and kidnapping along with other offenses. He pleaded guilty to sixteen charges including rape and murder in exchange for the dismissal of the earlier rape. He was sentenced to life in prison. He is not eligible for parole.

The Innocence Project believes he may have committed the rape and murder of another woman, a crime for which Sedley Alley was executed in 2006. His daughter has petitioned for DNA testing in hopes of exonerating her father, but the courts have denied her.

• RiverFront Times: Thomas Bruce, Catholic Supply store killer, pleads guilty to murder
• 5 On Your Side: Diane Bruce describes marriage with convicted killer in Catholic Supply store attack
• Spectrum News: Innocence Project seeks to exonerate man executed thirteen years ago

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis, Missouri · Saturday, October 23, 2021