It was one of the first stories I reported after arriving in St. Louis in November, 2005... but it feels like yesterday.

Let's step into the wayback machine and remember.

Petitions for the recall election of 22nd Ward Alderman Jeffrey Boyd were coming under heavy scrutiny. St. Louis election officials discovered the mountain of paper was filled with names of people who were dead. Even more names came back to phony addresses.

It was a rainy late-December afternoon and a handful of impatient reporters shuffled their feet in the parking lot of a union hall on the city's north side. After a while, former alderman Jay Ozier and ward boss Kenny Williams sat down at a small table in the drizzle and responded to the election board's accusations of fraud.

The men behind the recall, Ozier and Williams deflected responsibilty onto the team of campaign workers who did the collecting.

I asked the former alderman if he knew why the names of dead people were on his campaign's petitions.

He said yes.

How did that come to be?

He said I'd have to ask the people who gathered the signatures.

But you know what happened, right?

Yes, but I'm not telling.

End of interview.

About a week later, we paid a visit to the north St. Louis home of Linda D. Rogers. She was one of three people under the gun for turning in petitions with phony signatures.

I knocked on her door, politely introduced myself, and told her Kenny said I need to talk to her if I want to understand why dead people were signing her petitions.

Through her closed storm door, Linda Rogers played dumb.

"You tell Kenny I don't know what he's talking about," she screamed.

"But you collected these names. This is your signature," I implored.

Linda slammed the door.

Late this afternoon, producer Steve Perron handed me a ten page fax from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office.

Linda D. Rogers and two other campaign workers were charged with felony election law violations.

All three are at large and warrants have been sworn out for their arrests.

Just one word of advice to the police who get sent to pick up Linda...

Watch your fingers.

She slams a mean door.