Jose Luis Orona was 31 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. 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 crime-tracking site CrimeTea also lists his case as an active, unsolved murder in St. Louis.
Beyond his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about the killing has been made public. No news story about it could be found for this account, and no family statement or fundraiser tied to St. Louis appeared in the material reviewed.
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.
One record may be connected. A death notice in the Orlando Sentinel lists a Jose Luis Orona, 31, of Kissimmee, Florida, who died on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, with arrangements by A Community Funeral Home and Sunset Cremations in Orlando, and an online obituary says that man was born on November 27, 1984. The name, age and date match, but the notice does not say where or how he died, so it could not be confirmed that it is the same man.
He is listed in the database as Hispanic, and Hispanic residents made up a small share of St. Louis homicide victims in those years. If he was living in Florida or elsewhere, it raises questions the public record does not answer, such as why he was in St. Louis and who he may have known there.
The location recorded in the database places his death on the far north side of St. Louis, near the city's northern edge and the Mississippi River. It is an area of homes, industrial sites and open land, where a stranger or an unfamiliar car may have stood out.
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 Jose Luis Orona could be found in news archives or public records. More than 10 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Jose Luis Orona, in St. Louis or elsewhere, knows why he was in the city in early April 2016, or heard talk of what happened to him 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).
