Darryl Greenlee was convicted of murder and an armed offense while jurors acquitted him of robbery and burglary.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A jury convicted Darryl Greenlee of first-degree murder in the death of his former girlfriend Sheila Mills but acquitted him of robbery and burglary, producing a split verdict after a weeklong trial over the killing inside Mills’ Northwoods home.
The verdict separates what jurors found proved from the broader set of allegations that followed Mills’ death in August 2025. Greenlee, 61, was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was acquitted of first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. The murder conviction leaves Greenlee facing the possibility of life imprisonment without parole when he is sentenced Oct. 23. The result came roughly a year after Mills, 64, was discovered dead during a welfare check requested by her daughter.
Police initially investigated a scene that generated several different strands of evidence: Mills had been killed inside her home; her hands were bound when officers found her; her vehicle and debit card were allegedly taken; surveillance captured activity around the residence; and investigators later recovered an item bearing Greenlee’s DNA from a discarded trash bag. Those strands led prosecutors to file multiple charges. At trial, however, jurors were required to consider the individual offenses separately. Their verdict convicted Greenlee of the killing and related armed offense while declining to convict him of the property and unlawful-entry charges.
Behind that legal distinction was a tightly compressed timeline. Authorities said Mills and Greenlee had been in a troubled relationship and that Mills ended it by text message on Aug. 15, 2025. Charging documents described the relationship as turbulent. At approximately 6:30 a.m. the next day, investigators said Greenlee appeared at Mills’ residence and began knocking on a window and trying to get her attention. According to the complaint, Mills opened the door and Greenlee forced his way into the home. Mills would be found dead later that day.
It was Mills’ daughter who brought police to the house. After she was unable to reach her mother, she contacted authorities and requested a welfare check. Northwoods officers responded to the 4400 block of Begg Boulevard at about 12:50 p.m. They found Mills dead on the floor inside. Investigators said her hands were tied behind her back and she had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Police then began reconstructing the morning through surveillance footage and other evidence rather than relying on a witness account from inside the home.
The surveillance evidence described in charging documents became important because investigators said it limited the number of people observed moving in and out of the residence during the relevant period. Prosecutors linked Greenlee to the home and also accused Kevin Shelton, another man charged in the case, of participating in events surrounding Mills’ death. The complaint said no other individuals were observed entering or exiting the residence during the period investigators examined. That assertion formed part of the circumstantial case, alongside physical evidence and alleged activity involving Mills’ property.
Shelton’s role remains the subject of a separate prosecution. Authorities alleged that he left Mills’ residence wearing a mask and gloves, drove away in her car and used her debit card to withdraw $140. Reporting on the original charges said both Greenlee and Shelton faced first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and armed criminal action counts, while Shelton also faced a charge involving fraudulent use of a credit or debit device. Those charges against Shelton are accusations, not findings of guilt, and Greenlee’s verdict does not decide Shelton’s case.
Investigators also focused on what happened after Greenlee left the residence. The criminal complaint said he was seen disposing of a trash bag in a nearby garbage bin. Police recovered the bag. Inside was a tequila bottle, and investigators said DNA recovered from the bottle was linked to Greenlee. Prosecutors could place that evidence alongside surveillance showing the movements they attributed to the men and the timeline established by Mills’ breakup message, the early-morning activity outside her home and the welfare check later that day.
Greenlee’s acquittals on robbery and burglary are an important part of that evidentiary record. An acquittal means the jury did not return a guilty verdict on those offenses; it should not be erased simply because the same jury convicted him of murder. Public reporting before trial naturally focused on the full charging package, which included the allegations that property was taken and that entry into Mills’ residence was unlawful. The trial result narrowed Greenlee’s criminal liability to the offenses on which jurors found him guilty: first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
That does not lessen the consequence of the murder verdict. First-degree murder is the central and most serious conviction arising from Mills’ death, and local reporting said Greenlee could receive life imprisonment without parole. His sentencing hearing will determine the judgment imposed by the court. Until that hearing occurs, the verified development is the jury’s verdict rather than a final sentence. The court process has therefore moved beyond determining Greenlee’s guilt but has not yet reached its final punishment stage.
The case against Shelton was on a different track. He had been scheduled to go to trial Sept. 28 on charges tied to the same death. The state’s allegations against him include conduct involving Mills’ vehicle and debit card as well as participation in the events surrounding the homicide. Because Greenlee’s trial concluded first, reporting about the case now contains two different legal postures: one defendant has a murder conviction, while the other remains entitled to the presumption of innocence on unresolved charges.
The underlying homicide investigation began Aug. 16, 2025, when Northwoods police found Mills at her residence after her daughter’s request for help. Charges were later filed against Greenlee and Shelton and were made public after a judge unsealed them. Earlier police reporting said both men were held on $2 million bond after being charged. Over the following months, the allegations moved from the investigative stage toward separate court proceedings, culminating in Greenlee’s weeklong jury trial and the mixed verdict.
The outcome also leaves the property allegations in an unusual position within the broader narrative. Prosecutors alleged that Mills’ car and debit card were taken during the episode, and Shelton still faced accusations related to those events in the reporting reviewed. But Greenlee was acquitted of robbery and burglary. The distinction illustrates why the charging documents, prosecution allegations and final verdict must be kept separate: a charge describes what the government accuses a defendant of doing, while a verdict records what a jury ultimately found proved under the law.
Greenlee’s next confirmed court milestone is his Oct. 23 sentencing hearing. The first-degree murder and armed criminal action convictions stand as the jury’s findings, while the robbery and burglary counts ended in acquittals. Shelton’s unresolved prosecution remains separate, and no conclusion about his guilt can be drawn from the verdict against Greenlee.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 29, 2026.