Police: Sylvan Lane homicide was meth deal gone bad

A fatal shooting in an apartment on Sylvan Lane on Monday happened during a drug deal gone wrong, investigators allege in a probable cause statement filed in the cases of two people accused of murder.

Columbia police on Tuesday arrested Daria Littleton, 41, of Columbia on suspicion of second-degree murder and said they were looking for Anthony Neill, 27, of St. Louis on a warrant for second-degree murder. Littleton is jailed on a $1 million cash-only bond, but Neill was at large as of Wednesday morning.

In a probable cause statement police said they were sent to 1510 Sylvan Lane Apt. 204 late Monday and found two gunshot victims. A man police later identified as Randall King II, 31, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The statement says King, who is identified in the document only as RK, was Littleton’s boyfriend.

The woman who lives in the apartment told investigators the shooting happened during a methamphetamine deal between Littleton and Neill after another person involved became aggressive, according to the probable cause statement. King grabbed the apartment resident, identified as HJ in court documents, and multiple shots were fired, the statement said. HJ told police she and King were struck by gunfire, according to the statement.

Littleton told police she went to the apartment by herself, though HJ told investigators Littleton had arrived with another woman, the statement said. Littleton also told police she was outside the apartment when shots were fired, the statement said.

Police said they found methamphetamine inside the apartment.

It was not clear from the statement who fired shots. Missouri law allows for a defendant to be charged with second-degree murder when someone dies in the commission of another felony, even if the defendant did not directly kill the victim.