Jurors found Harold Luster guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action after a three-day Jefferson County trial.

HILLSBORO, Mo. — A Jefferson County jury has convicted Harold E. Luster of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Christmas Eve 2024 killing of his 26-year-old son, Kevin M. Ward, closing the trial phase of a case built around an eyewitness account and surveillance video from a neighboring home.

The verdict followed a three-day trial in September and shifted the case from allegations in charging documents to a criminal conviction. Prosecutors said the confrontation at Luster’s High Ridge home began amid accusations involving Ward’s mother and escalated after Luster threatened Ward’s fiancee. Ward tried to intervene before Luster shot him, according to the account she gave investigators. Luster, now 63, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 15 before 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Travis Partney. Law&Crime reported that the first-degree murder conviction subjects him to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

The shooting happened at about 8:55 p.m. Dec. 24, 2024, at Luster’s home in the 6400 block of Highway PP in High Ridge, southwest of St. Louis. Deputies responding to a 911 report found Ward dead from a gunshot wound. Ward’s fiancee identified Luster as the shooter and told investigators that an argument had developed after Luster accused her of withholding information about what he believed was an affair involving Ward’s mother. The available court accounts establish that Luster made the accusation; they do not establish the alleged affair itself as a proven fact.

According to the probable-cause statement described by local news reports, the confrontation became threatening before Ward was shot. Ward’s fiancee said Luster asked her, “Do you wanna get shot?” as he went inside the residence and retrieved something. Ward then told his fiancee to get a knife from their truck and to run and call 911 if something happened. She moved toward the side of an outbuilding but remained close enough to see and hear part of the exchange between Ward and his father.

Her account placed Ward between the threat against her and the fatal gunfire. She told investigators she heard Ward tell Luster, “You’re not going to shoot her.” She then heard Luster respond, “You wanna get shot instead?” According to the probable-cause statement, she saw Luster approach Ward, raise an object that appeared to be a firearm and fire once. Ward fell to the ground. The witness’s description became a central account of the shooting from its earliest stages and remained consistent with the physical sequence described in later reporting on the case.

Investigators also obtained surveillance footage from a home across the street. The probable-cause statement said the recording showed a man believed to be Luster leaving the rear of the residence and making contact with Ward. The footage then showed the man raising an arm, followed by what appeared to be a muzzle flash, as the other person fell. The recording did not supply every detail of the argument, but investigators said it appeared to corroborate the fiancee’s description of the fatal encounter. The combination gave prosecutors both a witness who described the words and movements before the shooting and video that captured key physical actions.

Other reporting from the period after Ward’s death described tensions building before the final confrontation. Ward’s mother told authorities that Luster had called her before the shooting and threatened Ward’s fiancee, according to reporting based on charging documents. Investigators also said Luster had been upset following an earlier disagreement with another family member that day. Those circumstances formed part of the background to the Christmas Eve encounter, but the conviction centered on Luster’s conduct toward Ward and his fiancee at the High Ridge property.

Ward’s death also interrupted plans that extended well beyond the holiday gathering. His mother, Kathy Ward, said he and his fiancee were expecting their first child. At a memorial gathering days after the shooting, relatives and friends described him as a Missouri Department of Transportation worker, a truck enthusiast, a fiance and an expectant father. His mother told First Alert 4 that her son had “big dreams ahead of him.” A former middle school assistant principal said Ward had asked him to officiate at his future wedding after learning that he had become certified to perform ceremonies.

The memorial at Cliff Cave Park offered a public picture of Ward that was largely absent from the legal allegations. His mother said the park was one of the places where Ward enjoyed walking with his fiancee and where he had imagined someday bringing his child. Friends and relatives gathered there for a candlelight vigil and balloon release four days after his death. The recollections focused on his work, relationships and plans for fatherhood, adding context to a case that would otherwise be defined largely by a brief confrontation captured in witness statements and surveillance footage.

The prosecution eventually brought the case before a Jefferson County jury in a three-day trial. First Assistant Courtney Goodwin handled the case for the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, according to local reporting. The jury found Luster guilty of both first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The verdict resolved the central criminal question that had remained open since Luster’s arrest: whether prosecutors could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the charged murder. The conviction means reports about the shooting no longer require the same presumption-based language used when Luster was only accused.

The case nevertheless retains an important distinction between what the jury decided and what remained background to the dispute. Jurors convicted Luster of killing Ward, but the reports reviewed for this article do not establish whether Luster’s suspicions about Ward’s mother were accurate. The alleged affair mattered because witnesses said it fueled the argument and Luster’s accusations toward Ward’s fiancee. It should not be treated as an independently proven event. That distinction is especially important because the family dispute appears repeatedly in accounts of why tensions were high before the shooting.

Luster has remained jailed without bond since his arrest, according to Law&Crime. His next major court proceeding is sentencing on Dec. 15, when Partney is expected to formally impose punishment for the murder and armed criminal action convictions. The sentencing will come nearly two years after the Christmas Eve shooting and about three months after the jury’s verdict.

Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.