William John Gourley, 44, of Arnold has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after admitting to holding a woman and two children hostage in a St. Louis hotel room. The two children were held captive for more than an hour, and the woman was held captive for more than 10 hours at the Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch, authorities previously reported.
Gourley on Tuesday, June 3, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree kidnapping and three counts of armed criminal action. He was sentenced to five years for each of the kidnapping charges and three years for each of the armed criminal action charged, court records show.
St. Louis Div. 13 Circuit Judge Theresa Counts Burke ordered Gourley to serve each of the five-year sentences for kidnapping consecutively for a total of 15 years, and the three-year sentences for armed criminal action will be served concurrently, or at the same time, to each other for a total of three years but consecutively to the kidnapping sentences for a total of 18 years.
Gourley was initially charged with three counts of first-degree kidnapping, each a class A felony; two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, each a class D felony; and five counts of armed criminal action, each an unclassified felony.
A class A felony is punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison. A class D felony carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison, and armed criminal action is punishable by three to 15 years in prison.
The Circuit Attorney of St. Louis agreed to reduce the first-degree kidnapping charges to second-degree kidnapping, a class D felony, and to drop the endangering the welfare of a child charges, two of the armed criminal action charges and the unlawful possession of a weapon charge in exchange for the guilty plea, according to court documents.
Assistant circuit attorney Grant Simon prosecuted the case.
“The defendant engaged in deliberate and dangerous conduct that created a high-risk situation that disrupted the heart of our city and endangered lives,” Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said in a statement on June 2. “This outcome reflects our office’s commitment to holding violent domestic abusers accountable.”
The probable-cause statement said police were called to the Drury Plaza Hotel on Jan. 24, 2024, when Gourley allegedly was holding the woman and children, who were 6 and 8 years old at the time, hostage in one of the hotel rooms.
One of the children called the police at about 5 a.m. Jan. 24 and said he and his sibling were locked in a bathroom in the hotel. The boy said a man was fighting with his mother, according to reports.
Gourley eventually got the phone and said he had a gun, reports said.
Police negotiated with Gourley for hours, and the children were released from the hotel at about 6:15 a.m. and the woman at about 3:30 p.m., according to reports.
Gourley surrendered to police about an hour after the woman was let go. Gourley, the woman and children all knew each other, the reports said.
No one was injured.
Court records show Gourley has previous felony convictions in St. Louis and Jefferson counties.
On Oct. 1, 2018, Gourley pleaded guilty to resisting arrest stemming from an October 2015 incident in St. Louis County, and he pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, two counts of felonious restraint and three counts of armed criminal action following an arrest in November 2015 in Kirkwood. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the robbery charge, five years for each of the felonious restraint charges and four years for each armed criminal action charge and for the resisting arrest charge, according to court documents.
However, those sentences were ordered to be served concurrently, or at the same time, court records show.
On Oct. 18, 2018, Gourley pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance following an October 2015 arrest in Arnold. He was sentenced to four years in prison for each charge, and those sentences were served concurrently with the St. Louis County sentences, according to court documents.