Strangling Assailed As A Cool Game

By Catherine Vespereny

Mr. M, charged with capital murder, strangled a St. Louis University student with an elastic bandage "as entertainment," said St. Louis County Assistant Prosecutor John Chancellor in his closing argument Tuesday. "It was a game to them," he said, referring to Mr. M and an accomplice. "They had to make a show of it. They not only coolly reflected on it but they made it a slow, torturous process that they could enjoy with some Busch sitting on the steps. They watched that little girl die." Mr. Mr, who is on trial before St. Louis County Circuit Judge Alphonso H. Voorhees, accused of strangling Mary C. Towey, 18, last April 13 in the basement of her home in Oakville. Her body, bound with twine and wire, was found 10 days later in a remote area of Jefferson County near Barnhart. Both Mr. M, 19, and Mr. A, 22, made taped and written statements confessing to the killing. Each also provided maps showing where the body could be found.

The prosecution is seeking the death penalty for both men. Each is from south St. Louis. Chancellor said that the two men had been thinking about going to Atlanta, where they had friends, but they needed money and transportation. To get there, "they took her life, they took her car and they took what they could carry form her house," he said. Defense attorney S. Lee Patton told the jury that evidence failed to show that Mr. M and Mr. A had intended to kill Miss Towey. He urged the jury to find Mr. M guilty of manslaughter, rather than capital murder.

He said that Mr. M had put the bandage around Miss Towey’s throat as a Friday the 13th game. Mr. M fled to Atlanta, Patton said, because he panicked. The two men did not decide to rob the Towey home "until after Mary died," he added. And they left behind some of the most valuable items, such as a color television set, he said. Mr. M , who had been dating Miss Towey, had testified that he and Mr. A tied up Miss Towey and put the bandage around her throat to "mess with her mind." Mr. M told the court that he and Mr. A had stayed at the Towey home since the evening of April 12. He said that he, Mr. A and Miss Towey drank alcohol and smoked marijuana through the night. When Miss Towey awoke at dawn, they chased her through the house then tied her up and placed the bandage around her neck, Mr. M said. He said that he and Mr. A had gone upstairs to drink more beer and smoke more marijuana. After about 20 minutes, Mr. M said, he found Miss Towey dead.