Lavelle Gibson was 25 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Tuesday, September 22, 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 Lavelle Gibson 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.
Lavelle Gibson'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.
He was 25, a young man at an age when many people are starting families or settling into work, and he was recorded as Black, like most of the city's homicide victims in that era. His death came in late September, as the weather was starting to turn and schools were well into their fall term.
Lavelle Gibson is also a common name. Searches turn up obituaries, court records and public listings for many other people who share it, including several women whose middle name is LaVelle and men in other states, which makes it harder to find any trace of the person who died in St. Louis and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in north St. Louis, west of Kingshighway Boulevard, a largely residential part of the city's north side where many blocks had been hit hard by population loss and vacant housing. People who lived or worked in that area in September 2009 may remember the police activity that followed his death.
The killing came during a stretch when St. Louis consistently ranked among the most violent big cities in the country. The city recorded 143 homicides in 2009 and 144 in 2010, a very high toll for a city of about 320,000 residents, and a large share of those cases never led to an arrest. Homicide detectives carried heavy caseloads, and killings that drew little press attention were easily forgotten by the wider public.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Lavelle Gibson 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 Lavelle Gibson 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).
