Christine Elizabeth Weber made her first court appearance Friday morning and pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Dec. 15 shooting death at her Hermann residence of a man identified in 911 records as her boyfriend.

Weber, 52, is alleged to have shot a man identified only by the initials “A.F.” in the kitchen of Apartment A, 902 Goethe Street in Hermann. The call to 911 was placed at 3:43 p.m. and the dispatch message states: “She shot her boyfriend. Shot in the chest. Gun is on the kitchen counter. Not an accident.”

Weber did not have legal counsel during her arraignment before Associate Circuit Judge Ada Brehe-Krueger. Court personnel said Weber asked to have a public defender represent her. She is scheduled to return to Brehe-Krueger’s court at 9 a.m. Jan. 4.

Court records indicate the public defender’s office had on Monday filed a motion for discovery on her behalf.

Weber remains in custody with a $350,000 cash or surety bond set for the case on the class A felony murder charge and the unclassified felony armed criminal action charge.

As of Tuesday, the county’s prosecuting attorney had not released the name of the victim. On Friday, Mary Weston told The Republican she did not plan to release any additional information when asked for the victim’s identity.

“It’s an open investigation,” said Weston. “Right now I’m not going to release any more information.”

Asked why, Weston provided an unusual answer.

“Because I don’t know if it’s my job to release the identity.”

Asked whose job it was, Weston replied, “I don’t know.”

Marlon Walker, police chief in Hermann, said Weston told him not to release the man’s identity.

“I was advised it was an active case and not to release the man’s ID,” Walker told The Republican. He confirmed Weston told him not to release the identification.

“I’m just doing what I was advised to do by the county’s prosecuting attorney,” said Walker.

Gasconade County Coroner Ben Grosse said Friday he notified the man’s family of his death on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 16. An autopsy was conducted at the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office in Columbia on Thursday.

He did not release the cause of death when asked if it was known.

“We do but I’m not going to release that,” said Grosse. “Everybody knows it was a gunshot wound. I’m not going to release that. I’ll let (Prosecuting Attorney) Mary (Weston) release that.”

Gasconade County E-911 records indicate the victim suffered from a gunshot wound to the chest. Records of the incident obtained by The Republican also indicate there had been two previous 911 calls for Hermann police response to that residence that day — the first at 1:18 a.m. and the second at 2:02 p.m.

In the first call, the 911 log indicates “female on the phone wouldn’t give address. Heard male in background yelling ‘you better not call the cops.’”

In the 2:02 p.m. call, dispatchers noted: “Male is threatening her with a gun. Male stole the phone. Boyfriend is threatening to kill her.”

A press release from the Hermann police department acknowledged the two prior trips to the residence for reports of verbal domestics between “Ms. Weber and A.F.” while adding, “During one of these incidents, Ms. Weber stated she had a gun and would shoot A.F. if he came at her,” according to the probable cause statement filed by Hermann policeman Justin Lintermoot.

Lintermoot’s statement which was filed as the application for the felony charges also noted “A.F.” told “Chief (Marlon) Walker he had been shot by Ms. Weber.”

The man was transported to Hermann Area District Hospital by ambulance and later died there from his wounds, according to the PC statement.

Lintermoot and Walker recovered a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun in plain view on a kitchen counter. The man was on the floor down the hallway. One 9 mm shell casing was located on the kitchen floor near the firearm, according to Lintermoot’s report.

The report acknowledges Weber has no known criminal history but Lintermoot  believed her previous history of homelessness might make her a flight risk from prosecution.