Missouri mom-of-two, 22, was five months pregnant with her third child when she was 'brutally' murdered just steps away from her home on Thanksgiving, family reveal
A mother-of-two from suburban St Louis was five months pregnant with her third child when her family say she was brutally murdered just a block from her home after walking to a gas station down the street in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.
Amethyst 'Ame' Killian, 22, was reported missing by her family on Thursday evening, and her body was found behind her home in St Peters, Missouri, on Friday afternoon.
Killian's heartbroken mother, Stacy Stelzer, described her daughter's murder as 'brutal' in a newly released interview with Fox 2 Now, but she would not go into detail.
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Stacy Stelzer described the Thanksgiving Day murder of her daughter, Amethyst Killian, 22, as 'brutal.' The pregnant mom-of-two (pictured right with her boyfriend and baby son) was found dead in suburban St Louis on Friday
Killian's daughter, six-year-old Marley, talks about taking part in a casserole bake-off with her grandmother while her mother was missing on Thursday
'She might have been 22, but she was my baby,' she said through sobs.
Stelzer said while she was at work on Wednesday night, she got a call saying that her daughter had left at 1am to walk to the QuikTrip gas station down the street from where she lived with her family.
When Stelzer came home from work at 8am, she discovered that her daughter had not returned.
The mother said she believed at the time Killian would be back soon, and she did not want to spoil her granddaughter Marley's Thanksgiving plans, which included a green bean casserole bake-off.
'We were going to have this bake-off, which Ame knew about, so as we were preparing this, I'm thinking in my head, "Something is wrong. She would not miss this,"' Stelzer recounted.
Killian left her home in St Peters, Missouri , at 1am on Thanksgiving morning
Killian was last seen alive walking to this QuikTrip gas station near her home
After dinner, Stelzer went directly to the local police department and filed a missing persons report.
The following morning, Stelzer was at work when she got a call from the police, telling her they had found her daughter's belongings, and then her body.
'I did not brace myself for this call,' she said. 'You can't.'
According to Stelzer, her daughter had a troubled past but loved her children.
'She might not have been perfect, but she was as perfect as she could be,' she said.
Stelzer said she wants the person or people who took her daughter's life held accountable for what they had done.
'I want to look at them in the eyes so they can tell me that they did this to my child and see the pain that they have caused,' she tearfully said.
Killian was the mother of six-year-old Marley and 11-month-old Hendrix, and she had only recently learned she was pregnant with her third child, KDSK reported.
According to her relatives, Killian left her home in the 200 block of Main Street in St Peters at around 1am on Thursday to walk to the nearby QuikTrip gas station. She never made it back home.
Police have not said why Killian decided to venture outside in the middle of the night.
At around noon on Friday - more than 12 hours after she was reported missing - police got a call from Killian's relatives stating that they had found her cellphone charger stained with blood not far from the home she shared with her mother, stepfather, children and boyfriend.
Officers were dispatched to the area and found a woman's body lying in the 100 block of North Church Street.
The body was later identified as Killian, and the Major Case Squad launched a homicide investigation.
The following day, Killian's family found her blood-stained phone charger and other items, leading to the discovery of her body
Investigators have not revealed Killian’s cause of death, only saying it was an ‘apparent homicide’
Killian lived with her boyfriend, her six-year-old daughter, 11-month-old son, her mother and stepfather
Investigators have not revealed Killian’s cause of death, only saying it was an ‘apparent homicide.’
Family members described Killian as a loving mother who was artistic and creative.
Neighbor Susan Brown told KSDK she would often see the 22-year-old walk outside with her baby in a stroller.
‘She seemed like a wonderful mother,’ Brown said. ‘They just seemed like such a close, wonderful family.’
A cousin has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the family with Killian's funeral expenses.