Man pleads guilty in death of Miss Sweetie Pie’s grandson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man admitted Friday that he killed the grandson of a woman whose St. Louis-area soul food restaurant was the setting for the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s.”

Travell Anthony Hill, 30, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire in the March 2016 killing of 21-year-old Andre Montgomery Jr.

Hill said in his plea agreement that he shot Montgomery in exchange for $5,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Montgomery appeared in the OWN television show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” which was set in a business founded by his grandmother, Robbie Montgomery. It ran for five seasons starting in 2011.

In his plea deal, Hill said the victim’s uncle, James Norman, hired him to kill the victim. He also said Norman hired Terica Ellis, a former girlfriend, to lure the victim to the place where he was shot.

Norman and Ellis are scheduled to go on trial in September on conspiracy to commit murder charges.

Norman is also accused of trying to cash $450,000 in life insurance policies he took out on his nephew. He and his insurance agent, Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, are charged with wire and mail fraud and Yaghnam is also charged with aggravated identity theft.