Family sues after murder cover up caught on surveillance video at apartment complex

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — St. Louis Metropolitan Police (SLMPD) say a grandmother’s murder cover up was caught on surveillance video at her apartment complex; now her family is suing building management and security claiming they failed to protect her.

August 11, 2022 is the last time 63-year-old Carolyn Jenkins was seen alive. A week later, her body was found in bushes behind the Metropolitan Village Apartments off Franklin Avenue in Midtown.

Only First Alert 4 obtained surveillance video clips that purportedly shows two men wheeling Jenkins’ body out of the building and past a security guard.

“We are sick about this,” said Jenkins’ daughter Carla Smith. “They destroyed our family, what do we do now?”

Two men have been arrested and criminally charged in her murder. Police said Jenkins’ neighbor and ex-boyfriend 72-year-old David Harvey killed her. A second neighbor, 73-year-old John Day, was charged in connection to hiding her body.

Jenkins’ family recently filed a civil lawsuit against the Metropolitan Village Apartments, their management the Sansone Group, and their security firm Anthony’s Empire Security. The suit claims all three were negligent and had a duty to protect Jenkins.

The lawsuit claims when Jenkins and Harvey’s relationship ended, Harvey kept harassing her and breaking into her apartment. The suit states Jenkins complained to building management, but they didn’t take action.

The suit also claims Harvey shouldn’t have been living in the apartment complex. The building is privately owned but federally subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to the suit, since the building receives subsidies from HUD it is subject to g, so the suit argues it’s subject to federal housing rule including one that criminal activity can be grounds for terminating a lease.

In 2015, Harvey was accused of shooting and killing a pregnant woman. A St. Louis jury found him not guilty of murder but did convict him of multiple gun charges. According to Jenkins’ family’s lawsuit, when Harvey was charged in the 2015 murder he was living at the Metropolitan Village Apartments. First Alert 4 Investigates found Harvey has been convicted of a list of felonies dating back to the 1970s including burglary and assault.

The lawsuit also points to the surveillance video saying it shows Jenkins’ body being wheeled past a security guard.

“The security just sat there, monitor above her head, she never moved she just sat there,” Carla Smith said. “It was 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, she never asked what are you doing what is that nothing, my mother’s foot was dragging.”

The family’s lawsuit claims the night of the murder, surveillance video also shows Harvey followed Jenkins into her apartment, rushing inside before she could close the door.

“We’ve not been allowed to see the entire footage, there was eight days that he [Harvey] stalked her on camera before this even happened, there is security in the building, no one no one did anything about it,” Smith added.

First Alert 4 investigates reached out to the Metropolitan Village Apartments, the Sansone Group, and Anthony’s Empire Security, none responded to requests for comment.

In a statement to First Alert 4, the family’s lawyer David Grebel wrote:

“This entire situation is a tragedy – an avoidable tragedy. Had H.U.D. safety regulations been followed this dangerous individual never would have had the chance to cause harm to Ms. Jenkins. We can only hope Ms. Jenkins’ tragic death serves as a wakeup call to this and other landlords to take appropriate steps to protect their tenants from known dangerous individuals. Yet, even then, nothing can undo this horrific loss to Ms. Jenkins’ family.”

Jenkins’ family still has a lot of unanswered questions about what happened. The family called SLMPD the day Jenkins was killed since they hadn’t heard from her. According to a police report obtained by First Alert 4 officers found Jenkins’ apartment in disarray with a small pool of blood inside but did not find her.

A week later Jenkins’ family called police a second time since she still hadn’t been heard from. After the second call SLMPD found Jenkins’ body in a wooded area behind the apartment complex.

“We’re terrified that it’s just going to get swept under the rug,” Smith said. “No one will ever know the true story, that’s what we’re terrified of.”

Police records show John Day admitted to officers that he helped move Jenkins’ body, he is set to be sentenced in April 2024.

David Harvey is awaiting trial scheduled for March 2024.

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