Brian Allen Bennett was 38 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Friday, July 10, 2009. 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 Brian Allen Bennett 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, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital.
It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Brian Allen Bennett is also listed on CrimeTea, an online database of unsolved cases, where his death is recorded as an active murder case in St. Louis. The entry repeats the basic record but adds no details about what happened, which suggests that little beyond the police record has ever surfaced.
Brian Allen Bennett'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, years after the killing, the case was still counted among those for which no one had been arrested.
Several things about the case stand out. Bennett was 38 and was recorded as white, while the great majority of homicide victims in St. Louis in those years were young Black men. He died in mid-July, the height of summer, when city streets and porches are usually busy into the late evening.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in north St. Louis, a short distance north of downtown and west of the Mississippi riverfront, in an area of older brick homes, vacant lots and light industry. The database places another unsolved killing from the same year, that of Thomas C Scruggs in October 2009, only a few blocks away. People who lived or worked in that area in July 2009 may remember the police activity that followed his death.
St. Louis was one of the most violent large cities in the United States in those years. The city, home to roughly 320,000 people, recorded 167 homicides in 2008, 143 in 2009 and 144 in 2010, giving it one of the highest per capita homicide rates of any major American city. Most of the victims were young Black men, and many of the killings were never solved. Cases with few public details often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Brian Allen Bennett 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 Brian Allen Bennett and saw him in the days before he died, or who heard talk afterward of what happened, 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).
