Man Pleads Guilty in Missouri Insurance Agent’s Death

A 33-year-old St. Louis man has pleaded guilty in the 2007 death of a Missouri insurance agent.

Cleo S. Hines pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 in St. Charles County Court to charges of robbery and second-degree murder. Hines and 35-year-old Paul C. White were accused of killing 48-year-old Robert L. Eidman of St. Peters.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Eidman had been shot three times at his insurance office. His murder went unsolved until DNA linked White to the crime.

A St. Charles jury convicted White of first-degree murder and robbery on Aug. 2. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in September.

At trial, jurists heard audiotapes of White telling police he planned to rob Eidman the day after he lost $1,200 at a casino. But White insisted it was an accomplice — his former roommate — who shot and killed Eidman after they were unable to open a drawer where the insurance agent had kept some cash.

Sentencing for Hines is scheduled for Oct. 29.