Who is Zachary Childs Ballwin, Mo Man Charged with Murder After Fatally Shooting Partner

Zachary Childs, 45, a Ballwin, Mo resident was arrested and charged with murder after fatally shooting his wife Stephanie.

The Ballwin Police Department were called to a residence in the 100 block of Spring Leigh Court just before 1 a.m. Sunday.

Upon arrival, they found a woman suffering from a single gunshot wound to her head.

Ballwin police officers treated the woman for her injuries until firefighters and paramedics from Metro West Fire Protection District arrived at the scene.

Metro-West Fire Protection District rushed the woman to St Louis area hospital, where she later died.

She has since been identified unofficially as Stephanie Childs, who was married to Zachary for 13 years.

According to online records, Zachary and Stephanie Childs own the home where the shooting occurred and have one child together.

The couple was involved in a very acrimonious divorce that was filed in December and is still ongoing, with a bone of contention surrounding custody of their one child.

In February, a judge signed off on a protection order that required Zachary Childs to “not commit or threaten to commit domestic violence, stalking, molesting, (and) s*xual assault” against Stephanie Childs.

He was ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from her and only communicate through the court’s communication program.

Following the murder of Stephanie, authorities, launched a manhunt for Zachary which lasted for over 10 hours.

Zach Childs was located by 11:45 a.m., wandering in a nearby creek.

Officers were able to arrest him without incident.

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Childs with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and first-degree burglary. Childs remains jailed without bond.

In the wake of the domestic violence related murder of Stephanie Childs, Cynthia Bennett, the founder and CEO of JADASA, a St. Louis County agency that provides resources for victims of domestic abuse, said her agency does not receive many calls for help from Ballwin.

“Just because we don’t get a lot of reporting from Ballwin does not necessarily mean that domestic violence is not going on,” she said. “Domestic violence is everywhere.”

Bennett said it’s important for victims to know that resources are available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Help through JADASA can be found by calling 314-269-0100.

Bennett said the community can help by continuing to provide support for resources and making sure community members are aware that resources are available.

Ballwin, Mo is a western suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States.

The population was 31,103 as of the 2020 census.

Ballwin was established in 1837. The community was named for John Ball, who settled at the town site in 1804.

A post office called Ballwin has been in operation since 1866.

As of the 2020 Census, there were 31,103 people and 11,922 households living in the city.

The racial makeup of the city was 81.1% White, 3.0% African American, 0.2% Native American, 8.8% Asian, 1.0% other races, and 5.8% two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.1% of the population.

Thank you for reading Who is Zachary Childs, Ballwin, Mo Man Charged with Murder After Fatally Shooting Partner