David A Schoenberger was 27 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Wednesday, March 21, 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.
A Find a Grave memorial and a St. Louis Post-Dispatch death notice appear to refer to him. They describe a David A. Schoenberger Jr., born August 24, 1979, who died on May 6, 2007, at age 27, and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery Mausoleum and Crematory in Lemay, just south of the city line. His memorial also appears in a Find a Grave virtual cemetery for Gift of Life donors. If this is the same man, the gap between March 21 and May 6 would suggest he survived for weeks after he was hurt, but no public source confirms that.
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.
David A Schoenberger'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.
He stands out among St. Louis homicide victims of the era as a white man of 27 killed in south St. Louis, where far fewer of the city's killings took place than in north St. Louis.
The name David Schoenberger is shared by other men in the St. Louis area, so the records above should be read with care.
The location recorded in the database places his death in south St. Louis, in the Carondelet area near the Mississippi River, a neighborhood of older brick homes and small businesses. People who lived there in the spring of 2007 may remember the police activity that followed.
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 David A Schoenberger 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 David Schoenberger, saw him around March 21, 2007, or heard talk afterward in south St. Louis 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).
