Anthony Lavale Douglas was 21 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in St. Louis through 2017, lists his case as a homicide that remained open with no arrest.
Beyond his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about Anthony Lavale Douglas 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 the attacker, what time of day it happened, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital.
It does not say whether anyone else was hurt or whether investigators ever identified a suspect or a motive.
His age stands out. At 21, Anthony Lavale Douglas was barely an adult, the age when many young men are finishing school, starting work or raising small children. A young man that age would likely have had parents, siblings, friends or a partner who noticed right away when something was wrong, and who may still be waiting for answers.
His full name, including the uncommon middle name Lavale, is recorded in the database. Most search results for the name Anthony Douglas belong to other people, which makes it harder to find any trace of the young man who died in St. Louis in 2013 and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
The location recorded in the database places his death on the city's north side, a short distance north of downtown and west of the Mississippi riverfront. It is an area of older brick homes, corner stores and vacant lots, where neighbors often know one another by sight. People who lived there in the spring of 2013 may remember the police activity that followed his death.
St. Louis, a city of roughly 300,000 people, has for years had one of the highest homicide rates of any large American city. Police recorded about 120 homicides in 2013, 159 in 2014, 188 in both 2015 and 2016, and 205 in 2017, the most in roughly two decades. In many of those years, detectives solved fewer than half of the city's killings. Cases with few public details, like his, often faded from view quickly.
St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers keeps a public list of open homicides and accepts tips without asking for a caller's name, and a tip that leads to an arrest may be eligible for a cash reward.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Anthony Lavale Douglas could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Anthony Lavale Douglas and saw him in the days before he died, or who heard talk afterward of what happened to him that Tuesday in May 2013, 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).
