Both houses of the Missouri legislature in the state capitol of Jefferson City offered a moment of silence last Wednesday in honor of St. Louis broadcaster Nan Wyatt, shot to death in her home the night before. Thomas J. Erbland Jr., 43, Wyatt's husband, has confessed to shooting his wife, police said.
"The legislators knew her; they'd worked with her," said KMOX(AM) News Director John Butler, who had worked with Wyatt since 1996 and was stunned by her death. "Nan lived and breathed national, state and local politics. The mood here," he said of his newsroom and his station over the sudden loss, "is horrible."
In a statement, KMOX General Manager Tom Landmeyer said, "KMOX and St. Louis lost a great broadcaster and dear friend."
Wyatt was a popular figure in St. Louis, hosting KMOX's morning-drive Total Information AM
since the mid 1990s. She'd been a fixture in the city since the early '90s, except for a brief stint at WBBM(AM) Chicago.
Police told reporters last week they believed Wyatt's 7-year old son was in the home when his mother was shot. The father—from whom Wyatt was seeking a divorce, sources said—later took the boy to the home of a relative before surrendering to authorities, police said.
