79-year-old man going back to prison for another homicide

ST. LOUIS – A 79-year-old St. Louis man who spent several years in prison for killing three people is going back to prison after pleading guilty in another killing.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Torrance Epps pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Tiandra Johnson. The plea deal calls for an 18-year sentence.

In January, Epps rolled his wheelchair through a senior housing complex and shot Johnson. He suspected her of stealing from him.

Epps received a 30-year sentence for killing three of his wife’s relatives in 1973. He was paroled after 14 years and sent to a halfway house, but he escaped a month later and was a fugitive for eight years before being returned to prison. He was paroled again in 2003.

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