A 31-year-old father of four in St. Louis, Missouri, has been apprehended after confessing to killing his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children, who had been missing since last week. Trenton Ivy was arrested on Friday and charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 29-year-old Marquisha Williams, according to authorities.
Williams was first reported missing by her family on December 20, leading the St. Louis County Police Department to open an investigation. Detectives discovered that Williams was last seen with Ivy in the northern part of the city on the same day. They were together in Williams’ 2020 Jeep Compass.
On December 22, law enforcement authorities in Racine, Wisconsin, arrested Ivy on unrelated criminal charges. During his arrest, Ivy was driving Williams’ Jeep Compass, which was found to contain blood and biological material, as well as Williams’ personal items. In a post-Miranda interview, Ivy admitted to killing Williams during a physical altercation and disposing of her body in an unknown location.
Williams’ family spoke to St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK, expressing their grief and shock over her tragic death. They described her as a loving and devoted mother who had recently started seeing someone new. The couple had separated earlier in the year but were working on co-parenting their four children. Williams’s aunt, Sandy Bagley, said Williams was “very, very sweet, calm, and nice. She loved her kids, and we all loved being around her.”
“Maybe they were arguing that morning,” Bagley said. “The baby kept crying, and the scene looked a little stressful.”
Bagley also said that Williams “had started seeing someone else.”
“My niece was so excited about Christmas and really looking forward to celebrating the holiday with us and her four children,” Bagley said. The news of Williams’ death has devastated the family, who will continue their search to find her body for closure.
Ivy is currently held in Wisconsin without bond, awaiting extradition back to St. Louis to face the charges of first-degree murder. The St. Louis County Police Department and investigators from Racine are working together on the case.