St. Louis woman's son, two others charged in killing

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- At first, it looked like Rita Oberhart-Servais was killed during a burglary at her south St. Louis home.

Now, authorities believe the 57-year-old woman's own son and his fiancee hired a friend to kill her. Money was the suspected motive.

Patrick Oberhart, 21, fiancee Katherine Lindsey, 32, and their friend, Jimmie Lee Tate Jr., 22, were charged Thursday with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and armed criminal action. None of the three had previous criminal records.

Oberhart-Servais was shot in the forehead on Dec. 27 as she stepped onto her front porch.

Investigators think the suspects wanted the killing to look like a burglary, so they broke a rear window of the house. But detectives found only one previous residential burglary in the neighborhood in recent months.

Shortly before Christmas, Oberhart-Servais told her son and Lindsey that she wanted them to move out while she visited her brother in Illinois for a week. They allegedly told police the mother's ultimatum prompted the murder-for-hire plot.

Oberhart-Servais had loaned the three suspects several thousand dollars and was charging them interest. Oberhart also thought he would inherit his mother's single-story brick bungalow, police said.

Oberhart promised Tate $15,000 for killing his mother, police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Tate at one time also lived in the home.

Butch Feathers, who lives next door, said the suspects threw a party at the house on New Year's Eve.

"It was a big bash. There were a lot of cars parked here for it. I thought that was pretty inappropriate, partying just a few days after your mother's murder," he said.

On Wednesday, the day after Oberhart-Servais' funeral, homicide detectives picked up Oberhart, confronted him with their suspicions, and he confessed, investigators said. Lindsey and Tate then confessed, too, according to police.

The night of the killing, Oberhart told police he found his mother dead on the porch. He said she had called him on his cell phone while he and Lindsey were taking a walk, and asked him to return home to help her carry packages from her car.

Oberhart-Servais walked with a cane because of back injuries she suffered about five years ago. Her husband died in September 2005, a relative said.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com.