Christina Rentchler, Her Unborn Child, and Her Four Young Daughters Witness Horror as Pregnant Missouri Mother Is Gunned Down by Vanier T. Jones in Broad Daylight

On April 23, 2024, Christina Rentchler, a 35-year-old pregnant mother from Missouri, was brutally shot and killed in broad daylight while standing just feet away from her four young daughters and another child. Her tragic and senseless death has left a deep scar on the local community and sparked renewed calls for justice system reform and better protections for women and children in domestic and neighborhood disputes.

The horror unfolded in a quiet residential neighborhood in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Rentchler, who was reportedly several months pregnant, had been outside her residence with her daughters when Vanier T. Jones, a 36-year-old man with a documented criminal history, approached her children. According to police reports and witness accounts, Jones first asked the children, “Where’s your mom?” before walking past them and fatally shooting Rentchler in full view of the girls.

Witnesses and investigators confirmed that Rentchler’s four daughters—ages ranging from 4 to 13—were present at the time of the killing. Another child, not biologically related to Rentchler but in her care, also witnessed the shooting. The children’s screams reportedly alerted neighbors who rushed outside, only to find Rentchler’s lifeless body in the yard, with her children crying beside her.

A Life Devoted to Her Children

Christina Rentchler was known in her community as a loving, dedicated mother and a supportive neighbor. Friends described her as a woman who “always put her kids first” and who had overcome significant life challenges to provide them with a safe and nurturing home. She had reportedly been preparing for the birth of her fifth child, a baby she had been “so excited” to welcome into the world, according to a family member.

“She was a light in our lives,” said her sister, Amanda Rentchler, during a candlelight vigil held the evening after the killing. “She didn’t deserve to die, and certainly not in front of her babies.”