Fourteen-year-old Sterling Emmanuel Settle, a freshman at Oxon Hill High School, was last seen near his home in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on the afternoon of October 9, 1995. His body was found four days later, on October 13, on a remote logging road off Covington Road in Brandywine, about 15 miles south of his home. Officers who responded at about 4 p.m. found Sterling with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body; the state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

The location where the body was discovered is a secluded, wooded area, and investigators believe the scene suggests the killers attempted to conceal the crime. Detectives canvassed the neighborhood, interviewed classmates, and reviewed school records, but the initial probe went cold. No suspects have been publicly identified and no arrests were announced; the Charles County Sheriff’s Office classifies the case as a cold case and has periodically renewed public appeals and offered rewards for information that could lead to an arrest and indictment.

If anyone knew Sterling, his movements around October 9, 1995, or has information about the logging road off Covington Road, please come forward.