ST. LOUIS—For the second time since she abruptly resigned last May, former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is the subject of a subpoena from the Missouri State Auditor as the office nears completion of a report covering her time in office.

State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said Gardner has spent months “willfully” evading attempts to serve a previous subpoena and has not responded to requests for contact made through attorneys and former colleagues in the General Assembly, where she served prior to running for Circuit Attorney.

Fitzpatrick is now actively encouraging the public to submit information to help confirm Gardner’s whereabouts via his office’s whistleblower hotline. 

“The exhaustive list of ways we attempted to speak with her to provide this information should have never been necessary. In no way should this have reached a point where a subpoena or a public press conference was necessary. She should have come forward willingly to give answers to our auditors and to the people of St. Louis who deserve to have the complete picture of her time in office,” Fitzpatrick said at a downtown news conference 

Gardner resigned under legislative pressure from lawmakers in Jefferson City last May, along with legal proceedings from the Attorney General’s office that sought her removal. On the day she resigned last year, Fitzpatrick’s office was to be in court to enforce a previous subpoena.

Gardner was elected in 2016 to become the city’s first Black circuit attorney. She was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable, and proactively sought to free inmates who were wrongfully convicted.

Gardner first drew the ire of Republicans in 2018 when she charged then-Gov. Eric Greitens with felony invasion of privacy, but the charge was eventually dropped and Greitens resigned.

The Greitens case drew scrutiny that led to the conviction of Gardner’s investigator. Gardner received a written reprimand for failing to produce documents and mistakenly maintaining that all documents had been provided to Greitens’ lawyers.

In 2019, Gardner announced an “exclusion list” of city police officers prohibited from bringing cases to her office. The nearly 60 officers were accused of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media.

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen formally requested the audit of the Circuit Attorney’s office in 2018, but the work on the audit didn’t begin until 2021.

A series of events last year culminated with her departure.

Bailey filed a lawsuit in February seeking Gardner’s ouster on three grounds: failure to prosecute existing cases; failure to file charges in cases brought by police; and failure to confer with and inform victims and their families about the status of cases.

Gardner said Bailey’s attack on her was politically and racially motivated.

Meanwhile, the Missouri House weighed a bill that would allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor in St. Louis to handle violent crimes, effectively removing the bulk of Gardner’s responsibilities. The bill was set aside after Gardner’s resignation.

A pivotal turning point came in February after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball standout from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car after a tournament game in downtown St. Louis. She lost both legs.

The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations including letting his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest. Critics questioned why Riley was free despite so many bond violations. Even Democratic St. Louis Mayor Tishaura, a staunch ally Jones questioned if Gardner should remain, as prosecutors working underneath her fled the office amid unmanageable caseloads.

Gardner resigned, effective immediately on May 16. Gabe Gore, a former federal prosecutor working in private practice, was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson and was sworn in two weeks later. 

Gore’s office has cooperated with the audit work, Fitzpatrick said, and has rebuilt the office’s bench of prosecutors. In March, a jury convicted Daniel Riley, and he was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison last month.

Fitzpatrick said Monday auditors have found evidence of inappropriate expenditures and mismanagement from Gardner’s Circuit Attorney’s office. 

“We want to give her the opportunity to explain those, if there's an explanation for them. What we have learned through the audit itself through interviewing current and former employees of the Circuit Attorney's Office is that during her administration, Kim Gardner herself was very involved in making nearly every decision for the office,” Fitzpatrick said.

He declined to say if Gardner could be subject to civil or criminal liability related to the findings.

The audit will be released sometime in 2024, whether she cooperates or not, he said, while adding there was still time for Gardner to act.

“You may have resigned, but your resignation does not end your responsibility to answer to the people of St. Louis about your time in office. I know you will see this. Do the right thing,” Fitzpatrick said.

Gardner has declined multiple requests for comment since stepping down from office and did not respond to one Monday afternoon.