On what should have been a day of celebration, the family of Jerome “Michael” Marren was instead plunged into grief. The 35-year-old father was shot and killed in an armed robbery in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 9, 1993, just hours before he was supposed to attend a birthday party for his six-year-old daughter. Known as Michael to his friends and family, he was a devoted father to his two young girls, Alaina, 8, and Kelley, who had just turned 6 two days earlier.
A resident of Manchester in west St. Louis County, Michael was a sales engineer for Johnson Controls Inc., a heating and air conditioning company where he had worked since 1982. He was divorced and deeply loved by his large family. His brother, Douglas Marren, remembered him as an exceptionally kind and helpful person. "Mike was my brother,... he was one of the best people in the world," Douglas told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He was one of the nicest people; he was always there to help.
Everybody loved him. He was a super man." Michael was one of eight siblings and is survived by his parents, James and Eileen Marren, three brothers, and four sisters.
The fatal encounter occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the historic Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Michael and a female companion had just left a bar and were walking to their car when they were confronted by a gunman at the corner of South 11th Street and Allen Avenue. The man announced a holdup and demanded their valuables. According to the police account, Michael’s friend cursed at the robber and shoved her purse toward him. As Michael reached for his own wallet, the gunman fired a single shot, striking him in the chest.
The shooter fled with the woman's purse. Michael Marren was rushed to St. Louis University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The attack was part of a brief, violent spree in the area. Moments after Michael was shot, a husband and wife from Nebraska were robbed at gunpoint in the same block, the 2000 block of South 11th Street, losing about $300. They were not physically harmed.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded quickly. About an hour after the shooting, an officer on patrol spotted a car driving without its headlights on near 11th Street and Shenandoah Avenue. The driver, a 28-year-old busboy who worked in the Soulard area, was arrested. The couple from Nebraska identified him as the man who had robbed them. However, Michael’s companion did not positively identify the suspect as the man who had shot him. Lacking sufficient evidence, police could not charge the man with Michael’s murder.
For more than three decades, the murder of Jerome Michael Marren has remained an open wound for his family and investigators. No one has ever been held accountable for his death. The case is one of many unsolved homicides from the era that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to work on, hoping that the passage of time may encourage someone with long-held information to finally come forward.
As of July 2025, Michael’s case remains an active and open investigation. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department highlighted his murder in a renewed public appeal on social media, asking for help from the community to solve the decades-old crime. Investigators believe that even a seemingly small or insignificant detail could be the missing piece needed to achieve a breakthrough and bring a measure of justice to his daughters and surviving loved ones. A reward is available through CrimeStoppers for anonymous tips. Anyone with information is urged to call the Homicide Division directly at 314-444-5371 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (8477).
