Female hitchhiker murders Missouri father of 3 who stopped to take her to a warming shelter: prosecutors

A female hitchhiker has been charged with killing a father of three on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri. Brittany Rivoire, 36, allegedly gunned down William Palmer when he picked her up to take her to a warming shelter. Prosecutors said Rivoire shot Palmer in the head, stole his truck, and abandoned it before hitching a ride with another good Samaritan.

Rivoire was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, armed criminal action, and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. She is being held in jail without bail.

A criminal complaint reviewed by the New York Post said that Palmer initially had a friend riding in his vehicle with him that night, but decided to exit after developing concerns about Rivoire's behavior. Palmer's family said he was out searching for scrap metal and had a history of picking up hitchhikers.
 

"As far as we know, she asked him at a gas station to take her to a warming shelter because she was cold," Palmer's fiancé, Riyen Jones, told First Alert 4. "For somebody to take him for granted when all he was doing was helping her and then to do it to basically take his truck is...I can't wrap my head around it."

Jones explained that she used to warn Palmer about offering rides to strangers, but his heart was too big. "I used to tell him all the time not to pick people up off the side of the road anymore. He did it a lot," said Jones. "If he saw someone walking, he was picking them up and taking them as far as he could."

Rivoire has prior criminal convictions, including tampering with a motor vehicle in 2024. Detectives are working to determine if there was a motive in the fatal shooting. The investigation remains ongoing.