An admitted serial killer with ties to St Joseph has lost his latest bid for freedom from the Missouri Department of Mental Health after a judge in St Francois County rejected his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

William Barlow is 75 years old. State psychiatrists say Barlow has admitted his involvement in two murders in Jackson County.

Those killings happened nearly forty years ago.

He has served federal prison time for an earlier homicide in Germany.

He has been held since 1973 under various laws intended to keep sex criminals off the streets, even though he has not been convicted of those crimes.

While committed in St Joseph as a sex offender, Barlow was granted work release. He held a job at a downtown St Joe business for about thirteen years. Authorities took him back into custody after repeated violations of the rules covering his work release. He’s currently in custody in Farmington, Missouri.