James Turman, 28, was shot and killed while sitting in a parked car at 8933 Riverview Boulevard in far north St. Louis on Sunday, March 30, 2014. 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.
According to St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers, officers were called to the scene at about 2 p.m. They found Turman unconscious, lying in the reclined front passenger seat of a 1980s Chevrolet Iroc Camaro parked on Riverview Boulevard. He had suffered multiple wounds to both legs and his abdomen. Investigators determined that he had parked at that spot and was then approached by a man.
An argument followed, and the man shot him with what was described as a "dark colored" handgun before running away on foot, heading southwest.
The next day, police identified the victim as James Turman and told FOX 2 that he had gone there trying to buy drugs. No physical description of the gunman beyond his direction of travel has been made public, and no name, vehicle or person of interest has been released. The case remains on CrimeStoppers' list of open homicides, which carries a flyer about his death. In 2023, the agency again asked the public for information, and a social media post in 2026 noted that his killing remained unsolved more than 12 years later. No specific reward amount was found in the material for this account.
Little has been published about his life. No obituary or family statement for the 28-year-old could be found, and many search results for his name belong to other men named James Turman. He surely had family and friends in St. Louis who remember him as more than the circumstances of his death.
Riverview Boulevard runs along the far northern edge of the city, near the Mississippi River and the boundary with St. Louis County. The block where he died is a mix of homes, apartment buildings and open land, and a car parked there in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, with an argument and gunshots, would likely have drawn notice from people nearby.
The man who shot him ran away on foot, which means he may have lived nearby or known the area well. Someone may have seen a man walking or running southwest from Riverview Boulevard shortly after 2 p.m., or may know who Turman went there to meet.
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.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of James Turman 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 was on Riverview Boulevard that Sunday afternoon, knows who he had arranged to meet, or heard someone talk about the shooting afterward 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).
