Kanisha Hemphill Obituary – A St. Louis man has been found guilty in the fatal shooting death of his former girlfriend and her two young daughters. Ronald Marr, 36, has been found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of Kanisha Hemphill, 30, and her two daughters, Journee, 8, and Ja’kari, 1.
St. Louis police responded to the 4100 block of South Grand Avenue on February 4, 2021, for a 911 call from a witness claiming to hear shots being fired and saw Marr leaving the apartments. Inside the apartment, Hemphill and her daughters were found shot and killed. A witness told police that Marr said that his ex-girlfriend “was going to die.” Hemphill had recently served Marr with court paperwork for paternity testing.
After the shooting, Marr bought a bus ticket to Ohio, and U.S. Marshalls were able to arrest him when the bus stopped in Effingham, Ill. Initially, Marr claimed not to know Hemphill and denied knowing about the shooting and that he had been in Effingham for a week. Punishment for first-degree murder is life without parole. Sentencing is scheduled for March 8, 2024.