Disposal of Evidence in Fatal Shooting Leads to 87-Month Prison Sentence

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a woman who disposed of evidence in a drug-linked fatal shooting in 2023 to 87 months in prison.

On Aug. 2, 2023, Nichole Cheri Birr was riding in a 2012 Ford Fusion with a man, identified in court documents as “T.W.,” who had a large quantity of drugs. A buyer contacted her via Instagram and arranged to make a drug purchase in the 3100 block of Brantner Place in St. Louis. T.W. and the customer, who were both armed, suddenly began exchanging gunfire. Birr fled with the drugs and T.W.’s phone in the Ford. T.W. was able to tell police before he died that Birr and another man had fled in the car. 

Birr tried to clean out the Ford and dispose of it to impede the investigation into T.W.’s murder. On August 4 she traded it in for a Nissan Altima. The dealer noticed and mentioned damage from shots that had been fired within the vehicle, to which Birr replied with words to the effect of, “You have no idea,” her plea agreement says.

Birr then fled to Florida, where she was arrested 10 days after the shooting. 

Birr, 31, pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a felony charge of disposal of evidence.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.