Donte Owens was 18 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Sunday, February 25, 2007. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated his 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 his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about Donte Owens has been made public. No news story about the killing, obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who he 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 he was killed, whether he was attacked indoors or on the street, whether he knew his attacker, what time of day it happened, whether he 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.
Donte Owens'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 his death, the case was still counted among those for which no one had been arrested.
Donte Owens was only 18. He died on a Sunday in late February 2007, at an age when most young people are finishing high school or starting their first jobs. His case is also listed as active on CrimeTea, an online database of unsolved cases, which records February 25, 2007 as the date his body was found.
Other men named Donte Owens appear throughout search results, including athletes, social media commenters and people in other states. One recent post that mentions the name concerns a different killing in another state and has nothing to do with this case.
The location recorded in the database places his death just south of downtown St. Louis, near where the major highways meet south of the central business district. The area mixes warehouses, apartments and older rowhouses, and people who lived or worked there in February 2007 may remember the police activity that followed.
The killing came during a violent stretch for St. Louis, which has for years had one of the highest homicide rates of any large American city. The city recorded 138 homicides in 2007 and 167 in 2008, with roughly 350,000 residents, and a large share of those cases ended without anyone being charged. Killings that drew little press coverage were especially likely to fade from public memory.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Donte Owens 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 went to school with Donte Owens, knew his friends, or heard talk afterward of what happened to him 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).
