Wheaton murder victim's friend: 'It's still not real.'

When Sarah Entzeroth and her best friend Megan Boken parted ways Saturday afternoon, they were laughing and looking forward to soon becoming roommates.

Five minutes later, Entzeroth was house hunting. Boken was dead.

Boken, a former volleyball star at Wheaton's St. Francis High School, was murdered about 2:15 p.m. during an apparent robbery in an upscale St. Louis neighborhood. Investigators say several people saw a man fire into Boken's parked Volkswagen. The 23-year-old was shot twice. The killer remains at large.

“This is crazy,” Entzeroth said on Tuesday. “It's still not real.”

Entzeroth and Boken had known each other since 2007, when they were teammates on the St. Louis University volleyball team.

“It just feels like we've always been best friends,” said Entzeroth, 25. “She was the funniest, sweetest, best person I have ever known.”

Boken was staying at Entzeroth's apartment over the weekend because Boken planned to move to St. Louis and had job interviews on Friday.

“We went to the Cardinals game on Thursday,” Entzeroth said. “We went out and had a fun time on Friday night and spent all morning together on Saturday. We were having a great day like we would always have.”

Boken was preparing to drive to St. Louis University for an alumni volleyball game when the shooting occurred, according to police.

About 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Entzeroth said she sent a text message to Boken telling her that she had found the house she was going to buy.

But then Entzeroth got a call from Boken's mom, who told her that she was talking to her daughter on the phone when the call abruptly ended.

“She heard some confusion, and then the call ended,” Entzeroth said.

When Boken didn't show up at the volleyball game — and no one could reach her — friends contacted the police.

Entzeroth went to the spot where Boken had parked her car and found a crime scene. She said she knew at that point that something tragic had happened.

Boken was killed a block from Entzeroth's apartment. The location is across the street from where Boken lived for about 10 months after graduating last year from college.

“It's a beautiful area,” Entzeroth said. “We had walked my dog there earlier that day. There were tons of people around. It's insane that this happened.”

Now Entzeroth and other former college teammates of Boken are planning to attend the services that have been set for Wednesday and Thursday.

Visitation for Boken, a 2007 St. Francis High School graduate, will be held 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Wheaton school. The funeral service is at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Michael Church in Wheaton.

Meanwhile, a St. Louis neighborhood watch group is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. An anonymous donor on Tuesday offered an additional $10,000.

The shooter was described as a black man in his mid-20s, between 5 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with a medium complexion, thin build and short hair. He was wearing a charcoal gray shirt, khaki pants, white tennis shoes and a baseball cap.

Witnesses are asked to call Crime Stoppers at (866) 371-8477 and may remain anonymous.

“Those of us who knew Megan best know what she would want right now,” Entzeroth said. “She would want to find this person — not for her own vengeance, but to prevent him from hurting anyone else.

“This can't happen to other people,” she added. “Nobody deserves to go through something like this.”