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CRYSTAL CITY, Mo (KMOV) — A 54-year-old woman wielding a machete pleaded guilty to assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Lizette VonHorstman was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Police said she stormed into a BP gas station and threatened the clerk with a machete in May 2018.
After standing in front of the desk for a moment, Horstman listed a large machete she had in her hand and held it over her head while screaming at the clerk.
Horstman yelled about looking for a woman from Mississippi, was wielding the blade and knocking over merchandise in the store.
In 1992 Horstman pleaded guilty to the robbery and murder of a 66-year old man in Hollywood, Florida. Police said Horstman and a female accomplice lured the victim to a hotel to rob him and then beat him to death with a tire iron before stuffing his body into the trunk of a car. Horstman served 11 years in prison.
Neighbors who lived near her in Festus were shocked to hear about Horstman’s violent criminal past.
“It’s weird to find out somebody like that was your neighbor,” said Paul Hudson.
Hudson’s sister told News 4 that Horstman acted oddly, played music loudly at all hours and once threatened to fight her.
“It was a little scary, you could tell she was drinking. A very bad potty mouth and there’s children around here. And asked her to leave,” said Paulette Hudson.
David Zaitz walked into the BP convenience store shortly after the ordeal with the machete and spoke with the clerk behind the counter.
“Oh, I asked him if he’d been robbed and he said no a woman came in and tried to kill me with a machete. And I said, like a machete? And he said, a machete,” said Zaitz.
Eventually, a customer distracted Horstman by knocking on the window, which prompted her to lay down the machete. She continued to verbally threaten the 66-year-old male clerk and threw a beer bottle at the customer.
Eventually, the customer, a 37-year-old man, grabbed the machete as the clerk wrestled Horstman to the ground.
During the altercation, Horstman pulled a knife from her pocket, but the clerk was able to grab her arm and the customer grabbed the knife.
Police arrived shortly after and took Horstman into custody. She was taken to St. Anthony’s Medical Center for a mental evaluation.
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