Why was St Louis cop Katlyn Alix playing Russian roulette and drinking with an on-duty officer after midnight, investigators are asking. Photo / Facebook
Why was St Louis cop Katlyn Alix playing Russian roulette and drinking with an on-duty officer after midnight, investigators are asking. Photo / Facebook
The Missouri policewoman who died in a Russian roulette drinking game with a fellow officer had a tumultuous love life including two marriages and affairs.
Katlyn Alix, 24, who served on the St Louis Police Department in the US mid-west, was killed in what has been described as a version of Russian roulette.
Her first husband, US Marine Andrew Portell, who she married at 21, has written on Facebook about their short marriage, her alleged infidelity and how he "never stopped loving her".
St Louis police officer Katlyn Alix with her first husband, US Marine Andrew Portell, had a brief but 'hot' marriage. Photo / Facebook
Three months before her death in the early hours of January 24, Alix married another police officer, Anthony Meyer, the Daily Mail reported.
Like Alix's first husband, Hendren had served in the US Marine Corps and had been deployed in Afghanistan before returning home and joining the St Louis police in 2017.
Officer Nathaniel Hendren. Hendren was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of another officer. Photo / AP
Alix was reportedly a regular visitor to Hendren's place, and may have been romantically involved before her second marriage.
She and Hendren took turns firing Hendren's revolver at one other while a lone round of ammunition was in the cylinder.
Riordan allegedly disapproved of the game and decided to leave the apartment.
Hendren allegedly pointed the weapon at Alix and fired, and she did the same, with no live shot being fired either time.
St. Louis Police Officer Nathaniel Hendren leaves the Justice Center after making bail. Photo / AP
On the third go, Hendren fired at Alix's chest and this time a round was in the chamber and killed her.
Riordan allegedly heard the shot as he reached the door of the apartment.
Riordan and Hendren carried Alix to their patrol car and drove her to St Louis University Hospital, but she could not be revived.
Police found beer cans strewn around Hendren's living room and a powdered substance on the coffee table.
He was placed under arrest and charged with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
He was treated for wounds after headbutting and shattering the window of a police cruiser after learning Alix did not make it.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Andrew Portell, who had written bitterly on Facebook after the end of their three-month marriage in October 2015, has revealed their short time together was passionate.
Andrew Portell was married briefly to Katlyn Alix who he now says he will 'love forever'. Photo / Facebook
"In that time we burned hot," Portell, who had previously called his wife "a wolf in sheep's clothing" told the Daily Mail.
"I gave her my whole heart and loved that woman with everything I had and everything I was.
"Despite everything, she really did have a heart of gold … she truly was an amazing woman.
"We are all human. We all have made mistakes. Some people are defined by those mistakes. But not Katy.
"Till this day I still would have done anything for her. I loved her, I loved her a lot, I will love her forever."
Portell also posted on Facebook a darkened US flag with a blue line across it on the day Alix died.
Alix, who was in the US Army when she met Portell, left to join the police force.
The casket of St. Louis Police Officer Katlyn Alix is carried out of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis after her funeral. Photo / AP
Portell wrote on Facebook that he "couldn't think of a more fitting person to protect our community, our streets, and its citizens than this girl".
St Louis Police Department has launched an internal inquiry into why Alix was at the home in the early hours of the morning of an on-duty officer who had abandoned his patrol and driven 15km home to drink alcohol.
St Louis judge David Roither indicated at a bail hearing for Hendren he was troubled by descriptions of Alix's shooting as accidental.
"You do not point a muzzle at anything you do not intend to shoot," Roither said at the hearing attended by Alix's family and husband.
"Unholstering the firearm — an intentional action. Loading it — intentional action. Reloading it — intentional action. Pointing it — intentional," he said.
Officer Katlyn Alix. Photo / AP
Hendren remains on house arrest with a satellite tracking anklet while his case goes to a grand jury.
