ST. LOUIS – A jailhouse mystery deepens as a daughter fights for answers about her mother’s death.
The St. Louis City Justice Center denied the woman’s mother was in their custody, until the daughter kept pressing.
Kate Moser says she received a phone call from the hospital last year that an ambulance had picked up her mother from the city jail and dropped her off at the hospital with devastating injuries.
According to Moser, the jail claimed they’d never heard of her mother.
“It’s like a big game of Clue! The butler did it, or whatever. Nobody knows,” she said.
As she searches for answers, Moser hangs onto her childhood memories of her mother Terri.
“Oh man, she was a character,” she said. “A wonderful woman.”
It’s taken Moser months to talk about this. Her 56-year-old mother died last year after being on and off life support with a primary diagnosis of hemoperitoneum, which is internal bleeding that can be caused by blunt force trauma.
“The surgeon called my sister from inside the surgery room, standing right next to my mom, she said, ‘We got your mom here, but we don’t know how she acquired these injuries,’” Moser said.
The last Moser heard, her mother was arrested; but they never found out why. Terri Moser’s criminal history consists of two traffic cases and a pending marijuana possession case, which court records indicated she was wanted because of a failure to appear.
But when Moser called the jail with questions, she says they denied her mother was ever there.
“No record of her ever even being here,” she said they told her. “She was in that jail!”
How can Moser be so sure?
“Because she—for one—whenever you get out of jail, you get a bag with your belongings in it,” she said. “She had that bag that said St. Louis City Jail with her belongings.”
Attorney Mark Pedroli began asking questions on the family’s behalf. He said he was told in Feb. 2021 that police were “unable to locate an (arrest) record.” Then in May 2021, the jail followed up, saying, “The (St. Louis) City Justice Center did not see Terri Moser in 2021”
Just two days later – a mysterious flip-flop.
The jail suddenly supplied Pedroli with 56 pages of jail intake paperwork indicating Moser was, in fact, in jail for two days. Jail notes indicate Moser was “confused,” “dehydrated,” and on “detox.”
Pedroli also obtained an EMS report that indicated Moser was taken by ambulance to the hospital for “abdominal pain.”
“The truth always will come out,” Moser said. “What’s dark will come to light and I’m real close.”
The jail had no additional response when we asked for answers. Police responded to FOX 2’s inquiries, confirming they picked up Moser on that marijuana fugitive warrant back then, but offered no further details about the arrest.
There is no lawsuit filed in this case, just a search for answers in which Pedroli said he’s concerned about a lack of records and few answers.
He says his team will continue looking into the matter.