Crime & Safety

Man Gets Six Life Sentences for 2002 Murders of MSD Workers

Mitchell Osburn pleaded no contest in May to the murder charges after years of legal wrangling over his mental health and ability to stand trial.

A Maplewood man received six life sentences 11 years after stabbing three MSD workers to death in Valley Park. 

St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Mark Siegel sentenced Mitchell Osburn, 51, of Maplewood, to life in prison for each of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action. The sentences will run concurrently. 

Osburn pleaded no contest May 14 to stabbing three MSD workers on March 8, 2002 at Simpson Park in Valley Park.

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He was released from prison in 1997 after being found guilty of killing a car salesman in Columbia in 1980, dumping his body at Finger Lakes Park.

Osburn stabbed the three men to death March 8, 2002 at Simpson Park in Valley Park. Court documents said he sat down at a picnic table with the men, who were strangers to him, before returning with a knife and stabbing them. Killed were Steven Weiss, 46, of St. Louis, Robert E. Whitson, 45, of Bourbon anoseph E. Bisso, 43, of High Ridge. 

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According to court documents, Osburn is schizophrenic and has been taking medication that makes him competent to stand trial. During his plea, Osburn acknowledged that he could attempt to use an insanity defense, but that would open up the possibility of a death sentence if he lost the trial.


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