Man Sentenced to Life for Killing U City Man

The second of two men convicted of killing a St. Louis County Counselor Luke Meiners in 2008 was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday. 

Meiners, 38, lived in University City at the time of his death. 

The St. Louis Post-Distpatch reports that Cleophus King received the same sentence his accomplice received in the case. Ronald Johnson, 25, pled guilty and agreed to cooperate against King, 46.

Meiners was killed at King's home in the 5700 block of Waterman Blvd.

Quoting from the Post:

Prosecutors said Meiners had offered a ride to Johnson, who had befriended him, and who said he needed to go there to do laundry. 

Prosecutors said King and Johnson planned in advance to rob Meiners, who they suspected had assets worth stealing. Meiners resisted, prosecutors said, and in a 14-minute struggle was beaten, stabbed, strangled and cut.

To read the full Post story, click here.

The Riverfront Times covered the story in December 2012, when Johnson was sentenced for helping his former lover and accomplice kill Meiners. They dumped Meiners' body across the river, stole his Jeep and ran up his credit cards, the RFT reported. 

To read the full RFT story, click here.

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