The man authorities say is responsible for a double homicide at a home north of Pacific earlier this month was transported Monday evening to the Franklin County Adult Detention Center after he was arrested Sunday following a car chase in St. Louis.
Timothy J. Kalter, 41, of St. Louis, was arrested after his vehicle crashed on Interstate 55 near Bates Avenue around 4:45 p.m. following a pursuit by St. Louis city police. Franklin County Sheriff Steve Pelton said Kalter fled on foot after the crash but was later apprehended in an abandoned house near the crash site.
St. Louis County Police spotted Kalter’s vehicle earlier in the afternoon and gave chase but lost the vehicle when it entered St. Louis city. Pelton said a weapon was recovered in the car Kalter was driving.
Kalter has been indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action in the Jan. 4 shooting deaths of Ronald G. Kline Jr., 39, and Leslie Barstow, 34, both of Pacific. Kline Jr., died at the scene and Barstow died later at a St. Louis area hospital.
Pelton said he believed Kalter shot both victims while sitting in the back seat of their car at a home in the 2400 block of Spring Valley Road the couple were sharing with Kline Jr.’s father. The car crashed into the home following the shooting. Pelton said Kalter was “associated” with the victims and had been at the home before. Investigators believe Kalter intended to rob the victims and was aware Kline Jr. was known to carry large sums of cash in a backpack he often carried. Prosecutors charged Kalter with stealing Kline Jr.’s backpack in the incident.
Pelton said police began searching for Kalter over a wide area immediately after the shooting. The suspect has a St. Louis city address but is known to stay in Franklin, Jefferson and Crawford counties. A Highway Patrol trooper spotted Kalter in a vehicle near the intersection of Highway MM and Highway 100 on Jan. 13 at approximately 4:30 p.m. Pelton said the trooper pursued Kalter who later crashed his vehicle and fled on foot, triggering an extensive manhunt in the Villa Ridge area which included the Franklin County SWAT team. The manhunt continued overnight and into the next day according to Pelton but police were unable to locate Kalter.
Pelton called the shooting deaths “absolutely senseless” and said his department was committed to bringing justice to the victims’ families. “No one deserves this to happen to them,” he noted. The sheriff said his department had logged over 1,000 man-hours investigating the case but said capturing the suspect was a “team” effort involving multiple law enforcement agencies in several counties, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“Truly this is a prime example of teamwork among law enforcement agencies. Everyone who worked on this case was committed to finding this guy. I need to thank the Sheriff’s office investigators, Sullivan police, Union police, Washington police, Pacific police, St. Clair police, Eureka police, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Missouri Highway Patrol as well as the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s office and all of the law enforcement officers that assisted in Crawford, Jefferson and St. Louis counties for their dedication in the first steps of bringing justice for the victims and their families.
Pelton said Kalter had an extensive criminal history including assaulting a law-enforcement officer and was well-known to his department. Kalter’s criminal history includes the following felony guilty convictions: stealing a motor vehicle, 1998; first-degree tampering, 2005; damage to jail property, 2005; theft of a credit card/letter, 2012; possession of a controlled substance, 2013; stealing a motor vehicle, 2013; felony theft, 2014; second-degree assault of law enforcement, 2015; and unlawful possession of a firearm, 2019.
