Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty To Killing Colleague In Game Of Russian Roulette

Katlyn Alix, a wife and police officer who had been on the force for two years, was shot and killed in January 2019 while off-duty.

Alix, 24, had agreed to play a game of Russian roulette with fellow St. Louis police officer Nathaniel Hendren, 30. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Hendren and his partner, Patrick Riordan, were on duty at the time of the shooting but had skipped a call about an alarm going off at a business in order to hang out with Alix. Hendren and Alix were “dry firing” their personal guns, the Post-Dispatch reported, when Hendren removed all the bullets from his revolver except for one. He then spun the cylinder and pulled the trigger while aiming at Alix. When the gun didn’t fire, he handed the weapon to Alix, who aimed and Hendren and pulled the trigger. Again, the gun didn’t fire, so Hendren took it back, aimed it at Alix’s chest, and fired. This time, the gun went off and struck Alix.

Hendren and Riordan reported the shooting using their police radios and then rushed Alix to the hospital in their department-issued vehicle. Alix died from her injuries. Hendren claimed he did not think there was a bullet in the active cylinder position when he fired at Alix.

Hendren resigned from the police department less than a month after Alix was killed and had his state peace officer license suspended, the Post-Dispatch reported. He was arrested and charged with Alix’s death and was set to go on trial next month when he pleaded guilty on Friday to first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, The New York Post reported.

Hendren’s plea agreement includes seven years in prison for the manslaughter charge and three years for armed criminal action, to be served concurrently. The seven-year sentence was close to the maximum allowed as a class C felony.

In court, Hendren expressed remorse for his actions.

“I don’t intend to try and explain anyone else’s hurt or make this day any more about me than it already is,” he said. “I simply wish to express my sincere remorse to this court and to the family of Katlyn Alix, a wonderful woman full of tenacity and self-determination.”

“These actions have no excuse and I will not attempt to look for one. The pain I feel is nothing compared to that of the family of Katlyn,” he added.

Alix’s mother, Aimee Lyn Wahlers, attended the sentencing as well as her siblings. Wahlers filed a wrongful death suit against Hendren, his partner Riordan, and their sergeant, Gary Foster, the Post-Dispatch reported. Wahler claims in her lawsuit that Hendren had “forced other girlfriends to play Russian roulette and engage in other sexual activity that involved firearms,” according to the outlet. She also claimed Hendren had a “complicated psychiatric history” and suffered from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and “suicidal ideations and gestures.” She alleged that Hendren, a former Marine, was occasionally known to put a loaded gun in his mouth “when alone, just to feel something.”

Hendren’s attorney, Talmage Newton IV, told the Post-Dispatch the lawsuit contained “all sorts of inaccuracies and misstatements,” but did not explain what those were.