Rose Mae Thomas was 46 years old when she was killed in St. Louis on Friday, February 16, 2007. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated her death, and the Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in St. Louis through 2017, lists it as a homicide that remained open with no arrest.
Beyond her name, her age and the date of her death, almost nothing about Rose Mae Thomas has been made public. No news story about the killing, obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. She surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public.
The record does not say how she was killed, whether she was attacked indoors or on the street, whether she knew her attacker, what time of day it happened, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether anyone else was hurt. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect or a motive.
Rose Mae Thomas's name also appears in a 2018 Washington Post investigation that listed thousands of homicide victims across major American cities whose killings had not led to an arrest. Being on that list means that, a decade after her death, the case was still counted among those for which no one had been arrested.
Her age and sex stand out. Most homicide victims in St. Louis in those years were young men, and a woman of 46 would likely have had children, siblings, neighbors or a partner who noticed when something was wrong. She died on a Friday in mid-February, two days after Valentine's Day.
Rose Mae Thomas is also a common name, and many records for other women called Rose Mae or Rosie Mae Thomas, in Missouri and elsewhere, make it hard to find any trace of the woman who died in St. Louis in 2007.
The location recorded in the database places her death in north St. Louis, northwest of downtown, in the area around the Ville and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods. People who lived there in February 2007 may remember Rose Mae, and may remember the police activity that followed her death.
St. Louis has long had one of the highest homicide rates of any large American city. The city recorded 138 homicides in 2007 and 167 in 2008, at a time when it had roughly 350,000 residents, and many of those killings never led to an arrest. Homicide detectives carried heavy caseloads, and cases with few public details, like this one, often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Rose Mae Thomas could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Rose Mae Thomas, saw her in the days before she died, or heard talk afterward of what happened to her may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division at 314-444-5371, or leave an anonymous tip with CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (866-371-8477).
