William Perkins was 44 years old when he was killed in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, February 13, 2009. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated his death, and the Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in St. Louis from 2007 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 William Perkins 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, and no reward offer could be found.
He was 44 and was killed on Friday, February 13, 2009, the day before Valentine's Day. Friday the 13th is a date that tends to stick in people's memories, and someone who saw him that day or that week may still recall it.
William Perkins is a common name. Searches return a famous 16th-century English theologian, a baseball catcher, several St. Louis-area obituaries for men who died of natural causes, and arrest reports for other men in other states. None of those records concerns the man killed in St. Louis in 2009.
The location recorded in the database places his death on the far north side of St. Louis, near the Walnut Park neighborhoods close to the city's northern edge. These are quiet residential blocks of small brick homes, where neighbors tend to notice unfamiliar cars and people. Someone who lived there in February 2009 may remember what happened.
St. Louis had one of the highest homicide rates of any large American city in those years. The city, home to roughly 350,000 people at the time, recorded 167 homicides in 2008 and 143 in 2009, and the Washington Post's analysis found that roughly half of the city's killings between 2007 and 2017 never led to an arrest. Cases with few public details often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of William Perkins could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew William Perkins and saw him in the days before he died, or who 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).
