A St. Louis dentist, linked with as many as seven homicides spanning 22 years, Engelman was first charged with murder on February 24, 1980. The victim in that case was 26-year-old Peter Halm, cut down by a sniper's bullet at Pacific, Missouri, in 1976. Engelman, age 53, was named as the trigger man in the slaying, with 47-year-old Robert Handy charged as an accomplice in an apparent scheme to collect life insurance on Halm. Prosecutors linked the dentist's name with other deaths, including the December 1958 shooting of James Bullock, near the St. Louis Art Museum; an "accidental" dynamite explosion which killed Eric Frey, employed at a drag strip owned by Engelman; and the January 1980 car bomb that killed Sophie Barrera, owner of a dental lab where Engelman owed large sums of money. Tried first in the Halm case, on federal charges of conspiracy and fraud, Engelman and Handy were convicted in August 1980; on September 17, Engelman drew a sentence of 30 years, while his accomplice got off "easy" with a 20-year prison term. Another federal jury found Engelman guilty of causing Sophie Barrera's death, and he was sentenced to a further 30 years on October 11. His November trial in the Barrera case, on state murder charges, resulted in a hung jury, but a month later Engelman was convicted of murdering Halm, sentenced to a term of 50 years without probation.