Isaac Heath, 31, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly killing his neighbor Eileen Schnitker with a baseball bat and stabbing her, according to authorities.
The horrific incident occurred on Wednesday morning in Berkley, Missouri, near the 8800 block of Kathlyn Avenue.
Schnitker had heard a disturbance outside her home and went to check on the commotion, but she was then attacked by Heath, according to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
A witness told police that Heath was wielding a bat around and “striking an object,” KSDK reported.
After the suspect finished his attack, he allegedly said, “that felt good.”
The victim was found deceased on her porch with trauma to her head and face, the local outlet noted. She also was found with a stab wound to her stomach area, police say.
Heath allegedly threw a statue through Schnitker’s back windows at some point during the attack, a family member told KSDK.
“The fact patterns of some crimes leave you speechless, and this is one of those,” Bell said, speaking of the gruesome murder. “We’re not talking about a shoot-out. This is a neighbor checking on her home and she was savagely beaten.”
Heath is still in custody with a bond set at $750,000.
Schnitker had lived in her house in Berkley for over ten years with her two dogs and was originally from St. Louis. She was also a nurse.
“My aunt Eileen was the most down-to-earth, real person I ever knew,” Schnitker’s nephew Randall Benson told KDSK.
Schnitker’s niece also expressed grief over the killing of her aunt. “It’s beyond comprehension that this would happen to her, someone we all loved so dearly,” she told the local outlet.
If convicted, Heath faces a life sentence without eligibility for parole. Missouri does have the death penalty.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.