Sherrell F Austin was 21 years old when she was killed in St. Louis on Thursday, July 8, 2010. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated her 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 her name, her age and the date of her death, almost nothing about Sherrell F Austin has been made public. No news story about the killing, obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. She surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who she 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 she was killed, whether she was attacked indoors or on the street, whether she knew her attacker, what time of day it happened, or whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital.
It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Sherrell F Austin'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.
Her age and sex stand out. Most homicide victims in St. Louis in those years were men, and Sherrell F. Austin was a young woman of 21. She died on a Thursday in early July, just days after the Fourth of July holiday. A woman of her age would likely have had close family, friends or a partner who noticed when something was wrong. Searches for her name find nothing except the Post's list.
The location recorded in the Post's database places her death in north St. Louis, a short distance north and west of downtown, an area of older homes, vacant lots and new housing developments. People who lived or worked in that area in July 2010 may remember the police activity that followed her death.
St. Louis recorded 144 homicides in 2010 and 113 in 2011, and for years its per capita homicide rate was among the highest of any large city in the United States. Most of the killings took place in a handful of neighborhoods on the city's north and south sides, and many of them were never solved. A case with little public information, like this one, rarely stays in the news for long.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Sherrell F Austin 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 Sherrell F Austin and saw her in the days before she 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).
