Dennis D. Norise, 39, of Ferguson, was found shot to death in an alley in St. Louis on Sunday, November 24, 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.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the discovery under the headline "Man found fatally shot in St. Louis alley," and police later identified the victim as Norise, a Ferguson man. Beyond those facts, the details available for this account are thin. The material found does not say what time he was found, who found him, how many times he was shot, or whether he had been killed in the alley or brought there. It does not say whether anyone else was hurt.
No suspect description, vehicle, person of interest or motive has been made public in the material found for this account, and no reward offer connected to his death could be found.
The crime-tracking site CrimeTea lists his case as an active, unsolved murder in St. Louis.
Little has been published about his life. He lived in Ferguson, the North County suburb just beyond the city line, and was 39 years old, an age when many men are raising children, working and caring for aging parents. No obituary, memorial page or family statement could be found for this account, but he surely had relatives and friends who still remember him.
The location recorded in the database places his death in the northwest part of the city, in the area of the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood near the boundary with St. Louis County. The area is laced with alleys behind rows of brick homes, and the people who live along them often notice cars and people who do not belong. A body found in an alley on a late November Sunday would have drawn neighbors' attention.
The fact that he lived outside the city raises questions that the public record does not answer: why he was in that part of St. Louis, who he may have been meeting, and how he came to be in the alley. People who knew his routine may be able to answer them.
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 often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Dennis D. Norise could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Dennis Norise in Ferguson or St. Louis, saw him in the days before Thanksgiving 2013, or knows why he was in that part of the city 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).
