Man gets life for killing Wheaton SLU grad

ST. LOUIS — A 19-year-old has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for shooting a former Saint Louis University volleyball player to death while trying to steal her cellphone.

Keith Esters was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the August 2012 killing of 23-year-old Megan Boken in the city’s Central West End. He initially was charged with first-degree murder in the death of the Wheaton woman. She had returned to St. Louis for a job interview and a volleyball reunion.

Prosecutors said Esters shot Boken as she sat in her car talking to her mother. Esters’ cousin awaits trial as the accused getaway driver.

Boken’s mother, Lisa, said she felt like a part of her body and soul had been “ripped out.”