Rickey Baker was 49 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Saturday, November 21, 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 Rickey Baker 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.
Rickey Baker'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 49, older than most homicide victims in the city, and he died on a Saturday less than a week before Thanksgiving. A man of his age would likely have had grown children, siblings or longtime neighbors who noticed when he did not come home for the holiday.
Rickey Baker is also a common name. Searches turn up obituaries, court records and public listings for many other people who share it, including an unrelated homicide victim of the same name in another state, a retired Missouri truck driver and a nationally known cross country coach, 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 south St. Louis, south of Tower Grove Park, in a densely built area of brick flats and storefronts. The database places the July 2010 killing of Juan A Almanza at nearly the same spot, which is also unsolved. People who lived or worked in that area in November 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 Rickey Baker could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Rickey Baker 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).
