Howard Gillian was 27 years old when he was killed in St. Louis on Monday, December 11, 2017, two weeks before Christmas. 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.
Beyond his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about Howard Gillian 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 name is unusual in one respect. Gillian is far more common as a woman's first name than as a surname, and searches for Howard Gillian are dominated by records for women named Gillian Howard. It is possible his name was recorded in reverse order or misspelled somewhere along the way, which may help explain why no trace of him has surfaced. Anyone who knew him by a slightly different name should not assume this is someone else.
At 27, he was a young man, and the timing of his death, in the middle of the holiday season, would have made the loss especially hard on his family and friends.
The location recorded in the database places his death on the far north side of St. Louis, near the city's northern edge. It is an area of homes, small businesses and vacant land. People who lived there in December 2017 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. The 2017 total was the highest in about 20 years, and his death came near the end of that year. 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 Howard Gillian could be found in news archives or public records. More than 8 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Howard Gillian, saw him in the weeks before Christmas 2017, or heard talk afterward 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).
