Prosecutors upgraded charges after Jessica Lashly and Jersey Greer died, but the accused neighbor never reached court for trial.
HOUSE SPRINGS, Mo. — A criminal case that grew from assault allegations to two first-degree murder charges ended without a trial after the 73-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his neighbor and her teenage daughter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Robert Winkelman had been charged in the July 25 shootings of Jessica Lashly, 38, and her daughter Jersey Greer, 17, at a House Springs residence in Jefferson County. Both victims were initially hospitalized alive, leading prosecutors to charge Winkelman with two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action. Lashly and Greer died July 27, and prosecutors subsequently upgraded the assault allegations to two counts of first-degree murder. Winkelman, who authorities say shot himself as deputies approached him after the attack, remained hospitalized until his death Aug. 2. His death prevented the murder accusations from being litigated to a verdict.
The progression of the charges followed the medical condition of the two victims. Local authorities said Lashly and Greer were critically injured when deputies responded to the shooting at about 8:30 p.m. on July 25. With both still alive after the attack, the first criminal filing accused Winkelman of assault and armed criminal action. Once authorities announced that the mother and daughter had died at the hospital, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said prosecutors would seek more serious charges. The case was then amended to first-degree murder, reflecting the deaths that investigators attributed to the shooting.
The accusations arose from what the sheriff’s office described as a confrontation between neighbors. Investigators said Winkelman had experienced ongoing frustrations over activity at Lashly’s residence. On July 25, authorities say, he walked down the street to the property carrying a firearm and began questioning people who were there. Reports characterized the dispute as involving noise or other activity at the home. Officials have not publicly released a complete record of earlier complaints between the neighbors, and the available information does not establish whether law enforcement had previously been called to mediate any disagreement involving the households.
According to the sheriff’s account, Lashly responded during the confrontation and Winkelman then pulled out the gun and shot her. Her daughter moved to help her mother, attempting to provide first aid. Investigators allege Winkelman then shot Greer as well. A third person was chased while Winkelman remained armed but was not shot, the sheriff’s office said. Multiple witnesses were present and later spoke with investigators. Those accounts became particularly important because Lashly and Greer were critically injured and Winkelman also suffered a life-threatening wound before detectives could obtain the kind of statements ordinarily expected from all central participants.
Authorities say Winkelman returned to the area of his own home after the shootings. Deputies arriving at the scene encountered him outside with the gun. When they moved toward him, the sheriff’s office said, he shot himself. He was transported to a hospital along with Lashly and Greer. The three hospitalizations placed the criminal investigation in an unusual position: the suspect was alive but critically wounded, while prosecutors were filing allegations tied to victims whose medical outcomes had not yet been determined. Within two days, the deaths of the mother and daughter transformed the case into a double-homicide prosecution.
Winkelman’s own death less than a week later halted that prosecution. A criminal charge is an accusation, and because he did not survive to trial, there was no opportunity for a judge or jury to evaluate the state’s evidence and reach a finding of guilt. There also was no defense case testing witness accounts, physical evidence or the state’s theory of why the confrontation occurred. The sheriff’s office nevertheless continued to publicly describe the investigative findings, including the allegation that Winkelman shot both women and then wounded himself when deputies arrived.
The end of the court case left a distinction between what prosecutors had alleged and what investigators believed they had established from the scene and witnesses. Officials said Winkelman had become frustrated with activities at the neighboring home, but they have not supplied a detailed public record describing the origins or duration of that frustration. The reported motive therefore remains broader than a fully documented account of every preceding interaction. What authorities have consistently stated is that he deliberately went to the neighboring residence, questioned people there, became involved in an exchange with Lashly and then used the firearm he had brought with him.
The deaths added to a series of homicide investigations in Jefferson County during 2026. Local reporting after Lashly and Greer died said the two deaths brought the number of homicides being investigated in the county to five at that point in the year. A sheriff’s office official told the local Leader newspaper that random shootings were uncommon in the county and that recent cases generally involved people who had some connection, including relatives, domestic partners, acquaintances or people involved in continuing disputes. Investigators described the House Springs killings within that last category: a dispute involving people who lived in the same neighborhood.
Behind the legal chronology were two victims whose lives extended well beyond the case file. Lashly had earned an associate degree in business management and worked as an office manager for a family tree-service business, according to a shared obituary. Her family remembered her as a devoted mother who enjoyed time with her daughters and working on cars. Greer was preparing for her senior year at Northwest High School and played lacrosse. The teenager’s family and coach described her as energetic, supportive and able to make others laugh. She had also participated in a select lacrosse league during the summer before her death.
Greer’s conduct during the attack became especially important to her relatives. Investigators say she went to her mother after Lashly was shot and tried to render aid before she was also wounded. Her twin sister, Justice Greer, later described that attempt to save their mother as evidence of Jersey’s courage. Justice said the three had formed a close household and described Lashly as a mother who worked continuously to support them. Both Lashly and Jersey were organ donors, their obituary says, a detail the family highlighted while describing how the two continued to help other people after their deaths.
The absence of a trial means the formal criminal record will never reach the endpoint originally contemplated when prosecutors upgraded the charges. There will be no sentencing, no testimony before a jury and no judicial resolution of the first-degree murder allegations. The remaining public account instead comes from the sheriff’s investigation, witnesses, charging decisions made before Winkelman’s death and the family’s descriptions of Lashly and Greer. Authorities have identified the July 25 confrontation as the source of both deaths; the legal case closed before those allegations could be adjudicated, while the mother and daughter’s relatives were left to mark their lives outside the courtroom.
Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.