ēĖ stlmag.com July 2019 Photography by Wesley Law
T
HEIR PARENTS RAN a Playboy Club in Sunset Hills. They were
Team Fredbird cheerleaders, dancing in the Cardinal dugout.
Then they danced with Siegfried and Roy in Las Vegas—and
now both are prosecutors for St. Louis County, debunking illu-
sions of impunity. Melissa Price and Teresa Bomkamp are identical twins,
equally sharp and sassy, though Price says she’s funnier and more emotional.
“She’s definitely more emotional,” says Bomkamp. They handle some of
the most wrenching, least fathomable cases out there—horrific murders
and child or sexual abuse cases—yet neither can imagine doing anything
else. Price married in 2001 and divorced
in 2015; Bomkamp married in 2002 and
divorced in 2016. They mother each oth-
er’s kids, and Price donated the egg for
Bomkamp’s first son.
You’ve got to be sick of this question, but
what’s it like?
TB: I can’t imagine not being a twin. I feel
bad for people who aren’t. We have a bond
that even we can’t explain.
MP: It’s given me bravery where I wouldn’t
have had it.
Your parents co-owned one of the last Playboy
clubs. Did you have to do a lot of explaining?
TB: It was totally normal for us. We would
go to the club on weekends, work the coat-
room to make tips, then stay for dinner.
MP: The other day, one of my daughters
said, “What’s a Playboy Club?” I was
shocked she didn’t know. Sometimes
people confused the club with nudity.
There was none. Or people thought of
women being exploited, but I grew up
seeing women as strong and beautiful
and powerful and in control.
TB: Their club closed when we were 16, and
our brother had his accident right around
then. A traumatic brain injury.
MP: He was a drug addict. We were never
supposed to know, growing up, but we
always did. He’d actually just gotten clean
a few months before the crash...
That experience eventually steered you toward
law, but your first career goal was dance?
MP: As kids, we were in a very disciplined
ballet company. I think my parents want-
ed to protect us from our brother’s world.
TB: We graduated from Parkway North
then went to Mizzou for two years. We
partied and gained the requisite 25
pounds—but no drugs.
MP: I think we both felt like we had to make
up for my brother.Then Vegas. What kind of dancing did you do
with Siegfried and Roy?
TB: Big production numbers, and we were
involved in some of the illusions.
MP: Hands-on with the white tigers. Obvi-
ously, this was before the accident.
TB: We were not used as twins in the illu-
sions, though.
MP: It was real magic.Who brought up law school first?
MP: It’s always this weird Oprah thing: I
don’t even know. We have always been in
tune. [She waits a beat.] Maybe that’s why
it’s not easy being married to us.You divorced first. Teresa, did that make you
think, “Hey, I’m not happy either”?
TB: My ex thinks so! But no, it was totally
different. And we both have amicable
relationships with our exes.
MP: Mine was great when I did the egg do-
nation. A lot of men might have minded.You’ve prosecuted a man who injected his two
young sons with heroin; another who strangled
his son’s girlfriend. How do you account for the
cruelty in the world?
TB: Are people born wicked? I don’t know.
Sometimes victims will bring up the why,
and I say, “Don’t. Don’t try to get in that
person’s mind.”Why choose such a rough area of practice?
MP: I have the honor of walking people
through the storm, and I see people with
strength I never knew was possible.
TB: Including kids.What do you do to avoid burnout?
MP: Not enough.
TB: Plenty of people did burn out. A
defense attorney said to me, “If I handled
these cases every day like you do, I’d jump
out a window.”ANGLES Q&AĩŲŲ ŲŲ
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Ų įŲŲŲ Ų
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At stlmag.com: The cases that haunt them, the
miracle of kids, the loneliness of the job.