A 20-year-old woman is now facing first-degree murder charges after a dispute over a missing order of onion rings at a fast-food drive-thru window in north St. Louis County turned deadly earlier in April.
Jada Bell was charged on April 20, 2026, with six felonies, including first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. She appeared in court on April 21 and is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond with no 10% option. A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for April 28 at the St. Louis County Courthouse.
The charges stem from the April 8, 2026, shooting death of Chauncia Lashell Meekins, 32, who was working the drive-thru window at a Steak ‘n Shake in the 11000 block of Bellefontaine Road in Spanish Lake, Missouri, around 11:35 p.m. A male co-worker was shot in the hand and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to court records, Bell was driving a white SUV when she complained at the window about a missing second order of onion rings. The restaurant’s surveillance cameras captured what happened next: Bell threw her drink at Meekins, who threw it back, and then Bell drew a handgun and fired several shots.
Investigators used cellphone tracking and surveillance technology to build their case against Bell, placing her phone in the area at the time of the shooting and tracing her movements that day. The firearm has not been recovered, and authorities said Bell has not cooperated with the investigation.
Police have characterized the killing as a random encounter. There were no known prior incidents between Bell and Meekins, and family members said Meekins had never had any trouble at the restaurant during her short tenure there.
Meekins, who also held a job at Family Dollar, was just over two weeks shy of her 33rd birthday. Her mother, Tamela Washington, said that the two had spoken hours before the shooting about plans for a birthday meal.
“Her birthday is April 23,” Washington said. “Instead of celebrating her birthday, I will be burying my daughter for some senseless act over some onion rings.”
Washington described her daughter as “loving, caring, sweet-hearted,” a woman who held down two jobs and minded her own business. “She didn’t bother nobody,” she told NewsNation.
The funeral was held on April 21, one day after a candlelight vigil outside the restaurant where dozens of relatives and friends released balloons in her memory. Meekins’ father, Chauncey Lovell Meekins, found some peace in learning the suspect had been charged the day before the burial service.
At the vigil, relatives delivered an unflinching message: they want prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Bell. Anthony Willhite, Meekins’ cousin, framed the demand as a stand against escalating everyday violence.
Willhite said, “As a family, as a whole, we will be pushing for the death penalty, not for revenge, but to set an example because we need to stop this type of senseless violence out here; it doesn’t make sense.” He added that the randomness of the attack should chill anyone who has ever pulled into a drive-thru: “Chauncia just so happened to be in harm’s way; this could have been anyone’s child, at the convenience store buying potato chips, at the gas station taking too long at the pump.”
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith offered no commitment on whether her office would pursue capital punishment. She explained that decisions about seeking the death penalty originate with the assigned homicide team, which drafts a memo and meets with her — a process, she said, that has not yet occurred in this case.
The Steak ‘n Shake location where Meekins was killed will not reopen under its current ownership. The franchise owner confirmed to FOX 2 News that he is closing the restaurant and returning it to corporate control, with no decision yet on the property’s future.
Detectives are still working to determine whether anyone else was in the SUV with Bell and to recover the weapon used. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS (8477).
For the family Meekins left behind, the procedural questions feel small next to the central one her mother has asked since the night of April 8, the question that still has no answer. “Who kills somebody over onion rings?”
