A woman from St. Louis County was sentenced to 225 months in prison for her involvement in a murder-for-hire plot that led to the death of her fiancé. U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig delivered the sentence on Thursday.
Victoria Rena Williams, age 67, admitted guilt in September to charges including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Michael Grady, 70, was found guilty by a jury earlier this week of the same charges.
The victim, Charles Harris III, worked for an alarm company and was described during court proceedings as a churchgoing man who planned to open his own clothing store at the time of his death.
Court documents and trial testimony revealed that the scheme began in 2010 when Grady proposed taking out a $250,000 accidental death insurance policy on Harris. Williams secured the policy without Harris’s knowledge after confirming it would pay out if he died during a robbery.
In October 2011, Williams arranged for Harris—who sold suits from his home—to meet with two supposed customers. She told jurors at Grady’s trial that she tried to withdraw from the plan twice but was pressured by Grady not to back out again: “it could be ‘bad for you,’” he warned.
Harris was shot and killed at his Langford Drive residence on October 5, 2011. Following disputes with the insurance company, Williams received $224,444 from one policy and then issued a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. She also collected $175,762 from another insurance policy.
According to testimony presented at trial, those who carried out the shooting have not been identified but were hired by Grady.
Grady is scheduled for sentencing on June 4 and could receive life imprisonment without parole. He is already serving a separate 226-month federal sentence for assisting a violent drug trafficking operation by seeking information about individuals cooperating with authorities.
The investigation was conducted by the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen, Nino Przulj and Donald Boyce are handling prosecution duties.
