A Missouri woman’s body was found decomposing inside her St. Louis apartment after weeks of silence, and her roommate has now been charged with abandoning her corpse.
The body of Lawanda McGee was discovered on Jan. 21 at her apartment on Dragonwyck Drive after St. Louis County police were called to conduct a welfare check, according to a criminal complaint. Police believe McGee may have died on or around Dec. 15, more than a month before her body was found.
Investigators said McGee’s cousin and the apartment complex’s manager requested the welfare check after she had not been seen for weeks. Neighbors told police they had not seen her since mid-December, she was behind on rent, and her last activity on Facebook was dated Dec. 15, 2025.
When officers entered the apartment, they found McGee’s body in an advanced state of decomposition. According to the complaint, police also learned that her roommate, 49-year-old Terrance Smith, had been seen at the apartment the night before the discovery and that his personal belongings were still inside the unit.
Authorities allege Smith did not report McGee’s death. Instead, police say he covered her body with blankets and opened windows in an apparent attempt to reduce the smell while continuing to live in the apartment.
Smith returned to the apartment complex on Feb. 2, at which point the leasing office notified police. He was arrested shortly afterward and charged with abandonment of a corpse. His bond was set at $100,000, according to local outlet KSDK.
McGee’s sister, Ashley Barrett, told KSDK that her sister was a recent nursing school graduate and a mother to a 13-year-old daughter. Barrett also wrote on a GoFundMe page that McGee had been excited about her future and was just beginning to get ahead in life.
“She had just graduated from nursing school, so we were excited to see what she was preparing us for,” Barrett wrote. “Lawanda was just starting to get ahead of life when she passed away.”
Barrett said she had not spoken to her sister since early December but did not initially fear the worst. As time passed, concern grew.
“I started calling the hospitals, every hospital in St. Louis,” Barrett said. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘She wouldn’t be dead, because I would have gotten a phone call.’”
Police later told the family that McGee may have died around Dec. 15. Toxicology results are pending to determine her cause of death.
Barrett said learning how her sister’s body was treated after death only deepened the pain.
“He sat with her for 38 days and just walked past her every day,” she said. “He covered her with blankets. He tried to air the place out so no one could smell it. She didn’t deserve that.”
The investigation into McGee’s death remains ongoing as authorities await further medical findings.
