ST. CHARLES — Shawn Kavanagh was found guilty Friday of three counts of first-degree murder for the 2014 Valentine's Day killings of two women and a 7-year-old old boy.
Prosecutors will now seek the death penalty against Kavanagh, 32, who tracked down his then wife, Jessica Powell, in a friend's Warren County trailer the evening of Feb. 14, 2014, after she backed out of Valentine's Day plans. There, he stabbed Powell before repeatedly stabbing and killing her friends, Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, and Lexy Vandiver,29,along with Vandiver's7-year-old son,Mason.
Powell and Vandiver's 18-month-old daughter,Jeanette, survived.
St. Charles County Circuit Judge Rebeca Navarro-McKelvey convicted Kavanagh Friday on nine charges including counts of first-degree murder,domestic assault,burglary and armed criminal action.
Kavanagh's public defenders admitted he was behind the killings in the three-day trial in St. Charles this week,but sought the lower charge of second-degree murder because, they argued, the killings were not premeditated.
The verdict was a long time coming for the families of Kavanagh's victims. Delays were prompted by turnover on his defense team, the COVID-19 pandemic, illness among attorneys and the death of a defense attorney's family member.
"It was constant stress and worry every time the trial date would get moved," said Fifer's younger sister,Hayley Roberts.
Roberts attended all three days of the trial.
"Hearing that first 'guilty' was like a light coming on for me," an emotional Roberts said just after the verdict. "Maybe it was my faith in the justice system being restored."
Roberts said she would be satisfied with a sentence of either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Kavanagh told police he flew into a rage the night of the stabbings when he spotted his wife with Fifer.
Powell and Fifer worked together as nursing assistants at a New Florence nursing home and developed a romantic relationship, according to Fifer's family and texts presented during the trial.
"My sister was the most genuine kind of sweet," Roberts said. "She was so trusting."
Fifer loved her pickup truck and always smelled like good cologne, Roberts said. A nursing home resident cut her hair into the faux mohawk Fifer wore after her death to honor her.
"She was so loved by so many people,"Roberts said.
Lexy Vandiver's sister-in-law, Heather Vandiver, now has joint custody of Jeanette,the18-month old baby who was also in the trailer the night both her mother and 7-year-old brother, Mason, were killed.
Heather Vandiver carried a framed photo of Mason into court every day of the trial and cried tears of relief when the verdict was read.
She said she hopes Kavanagh gets the death penalty in the case.
"With all the trauma he's caused so many people,he deserves to be put to death," she said.
Jeanette is now 10 and lives in Lincoln County.
"She doesn't know the story yet,"Heather Vandiver said. "She just knows they're in heaven now."
Warren County Prosecuting Attorney Kelly King is personally prosecuting Kavanagh with help from the Missouri Attorney General's Office.
King said in closing arguments Wednesday that Kavanagh told police only Fifer "deserved it" because she was having an affair
with his wife and trying to"steal" her.
"Jessica, to him, was a possession,"King said."He wasn't going to let anyone take his possession —particularly Tara Fifer."
Defense attorney Anthony Davidson said in closing arguments that Kavanagh has mental disorders that made him incapable of deliberation while in a rage. The defense called two psychiatric experts who testified that Kavanagh has borderline personality disorder and intermittent explosive disorder.
David son argued Kavanagh was likely in a dissociative state and became remorseful soon after the stabbing ended, calling 911 to report the stabbings himself and screaming at a mirror: "Why did I do this?"
Beginning Monday both the prosecution and defense are expected to present victim statements and character testimony that the judge will consider for sentencing.
Kavanagh waived his right to a jury trial and requested the case be held outside Warren County, so it will be up to Judge Navarro McKelvey to decide if he will be sentenced to death for his crimes. Erin Heffernan • 314-340-8145 @erinheff on Twitter eheffernan@post-dispatch.com
