Trial delayed for husband who allegedly hired hitmen to kill Collinsville woman
Sammy J. Shafer Jr., the Caseyville businessman who allegedly hired two hitmen to shoot and kill his estranged wife’s lover in Collinsville last year, won’t be facing a jury until 2027.
His first-degree murder trial had been scheduled for April 27 in Madison County Circuit Court. But his defense attorneys asked for a continuance, and the judge granted their request.
The trial now is set for Jan. 11. That will follow a pretrial conference on Sept. 15 and a final pretrial conference on Dec. 16.
“The parties further agree that the delay is attributable to the defendant, and the court shall not grant any further continuance,” Circuit Judge Timothy Berkley wrote in his scheduling order this month.
The defense filed a motion on May 27, 2025, to request a change of venue, arguing that Shafer couldn’t get a fair trial in the metro-east because of pretrial publicity, including television and newspaper stories and social-media posts. Prosecutors rejected the idea. Berkley hasn’t ruled on it.
Shafer is being represented by St. Louis attorneys Scott Rosenblum and T.J. Matthes, of Rosenblum Schwartz Fry & Johnson. They didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“Defense counsel states that the (Shafer) trial will likely take seven to eight days,” Berkley wrote in his order.
Portia Rowland, 32, of Collinsville, was murdered about 6 a.m. Jan. 21, 2025, in the driveway of a Collinsville home that she shared with Sammy Shafer’s estranged wife, Sarah Shafer.
Gary D. Johnson, 46, of Cahokia Heights, admitted to investigators that he was the gunman. He was found guilty earlier this month in a bench trial with Associate Judge Neil Schroeder. His sentencing is set for April 23.
No trial date has been scheduled for a third defendant, Marty D. Shaw, 35, of Collinsville. Shaw, Johnson’s cousin, is accused of driving the getaway car. He formerly worked for an excavating business owned by Sammy Shafer and his father.
All three murder-for-hire cases are being prosecuted by the office of Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine.
The office charged Johnson, Shafer and Shaw with first-degree murder, Shafer with solicitation of murder for hire and Johnson with possession of a weapon by a felon.
Prosecutors allege that Sammy Shafer paid the other two men $10,000 to kill Rowland. He and Sarah Shafer were going through a contentious divorce in St. Clair County at the time of the murder, court records show. Their divorce became final in June.
Schroeder called the evidence against Johnson “overwhelming” before he found him guilty of first-degree murder.
“Mr. Johnson ultimately fully confessed to his involvement in this crime and that he was in fact the person who shot and killed Portia Rowland,” the judge said on March 9.
Public Defender Mary Copeland, whose office represents Johnson, reiterated a prior objection to his police statement being submitted as evidence, saying he didn’t give it voluntarily. Schroeder overruled it.
Last year, investigators with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis working on the Rowland case reported using license-plate readers to track a suspect vehicle to a Missouri address, where they took Shaw into custody, and that led them to Sammy Shafer and Johnson.
All three men have been held in Madison County Jail since their arrests. Johnson and Shaw waived their right to detention hearings. Shafer filed a motion for release, but a judge denied it.
Rowland was a 2010 graduate of Collinsville High School who worked as a mechanic for Metropolitan Sewer District in St. Louis.
Shafer was a well-known businessman who operated S. Shafer Excavating in Pontoon Beach with his father. He also served as president of several other businesses, including a trucking company and the Caseyville Bridge Inn, a bar on Main Street.
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
