Missouri teacher's murder-for-hire case unmasked years after killing

In 2016, Jocelyn Peters, a pregnant St. Louis teacher, was killed in her apartment. Investigators linked the crime to a murder-for-hire plot involving her partner Cornelius Green and associate Phillip Cutler, including a makeshift potato silencer, a money package, and digital traces from phones and location data placing Cutler at Peters’ address the night of the murder. Surveillance also showed Green’s car nearby. After years of investigation, Green pled guilty in 2024 to murder and conspiracy, while Cutler was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Peters’ family finally saw justice and sought closure.