Antwone Chatman, 33, was shot and killed in a vacant lot in north St. Louis in the early morning of Thursday, July 12, 2012. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated his death. 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.
According to a brief St. Louis Post-Dispatch crime roundup, at about 3:05 a.m. that Thursday, Chatman was shot in the back as he stood in a vacant lot on a block of John, a street name that appears to refer to John Avenue, and he died there. The wording of the item, which says he was shot in "the same block" and "also died there," suggests it followed a report of another incident on that block, but the rest of the item is not available.
It does not say how many shots were fired or whether anyone else was with him.
No description of a gunman, a vehicle, a person of interest or a motive has been made public, and no reward for information appears in the available record. An online case listing on CrimeTea, a site that catalogs unsolved killings, lists Antwone Chatman as a murder victim and the case as active.
Little about Antwone Chatman's life has entered the public record. No obituary or memorial page for him could be found for this account. At 33, he would likely have had family, friends and perhaps children who remember him and who may have heard what happened.
Being shot in the back in a vacant lot at 3 a.m. is a detail that stands out. It suggests he may have been walking away from or not facing the person who shot him. The time of night means few people may have been out, but the sound of gunfire carries, and someone nearby may have looked out a window, heard voices or seen a car.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in north St. Louis, in the area of the Hyde Park and College Hill neighborhoods, a few miles north of downtown. The database places two other open killings in this group, those of Gabriel Noldin in June 2011 and Steffen D. Smith in November 2012, within a few blocks, Smith's almost at the same spot. People who lived near John Avenue that summer may remember the police activity that followed.
St. Louis has long had one of the highest homicide rates of any large American city. The city recorded more than 100 homicides in every year of the early 2010s, and the yearly totals later climbed to 188 in 2015 and 205 in 2017. In many of those years, fewer than half of the city's killings ended in an arrest. Cases with few public details, like his, often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Antwone Chatman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near John Avenue in the early hours of July 12, 2012, who knew why Antwone Chatman was in that lot, or who heard talk afterward about the shooting, 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 call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (866-371-8477), where tips can be anonymous.
