Category: Cold Cases

It was just at nightfall when a car struck a woman on I-240 near the Walnut Grove ramp in east Memphis. The pedestrian had apparently just left a nearby hospital. It was unclear how or why she was on the interstate highway on foot. Police received a call from a motorist who claimed to see the accident. When officers arrived at the scene they found April Young, 38, dead of her injuries.

The death is one of several hit-and-run homicides in the past few years in Memphis and Shelby County.

Police said the vehicle involved likely had a broken driver-side headlight and side-view mirror, plus front-end damage. There may have been other witnesses on what is always a busy stretch of interstate, and anyone with information is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274).

Rhodes College Student Drew Rainer, 22, was one of five people inside a Midtown home when three or four men in tightly-bound hoodies kicked in the door and held everyone at gunpoint, They demanded electronic devices and more. Soon shots were fired. Rainer was killed and another person was injured.

Police later arrested one suspect, Rainess Holmes. The investigation showed he was one of the home invaders but not the one who fired the shots. He pled guilty to second-degree murder in 2025 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The others in the raid, including the one who killed Rainer, remain unidentified and at large. This crime now is considered a cold case but the investigation continues. Contact CrimeStoppers, 528-CASH.

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
Memphis Police officers responding to a shooting call arrived at 9028 Walnut Grove Road, near Forest Hill Irene Road in Cordova at 6:42 p.m. Thursday, August 20, 2020. They found a pregnant woman unresponsive and bleeding in a black 2014 Mercedes CL2 in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s drugstore.

Keierra McNeil, 32, had multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics arrived and pronounced McNeil and the unborn child dead at 7:07 p.m.

Investigators need the public’s help to solve this homicide. Her family said she had gone to the drugstore to meet with someone. Although an individual was arrested later, charges were dropped because the prosecutor’s office said there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed in the case.

Anyone with information is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274) to help solve this crime.

November 22, 2022

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT / CARJACKING

A Cold Case
It was 8 at night three years ago — Friday, November 22, 2019 — when Memphis Police officers assigned to the North Main Street station responded to a call about a shooting in the Medical District. They arrived at the scene near the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Dunlap Street and learned a female gunshot victim had driven herself to the Le Bonheur Hospital emergency room.

The woman was stabilized and transferred to Regional One Hospital in critical condition. Police learned that she was walking to her parked car after work at a nearby medical facility when she was approached by two men on foot. The men attempted to take her car by force and shot her in the process.

The assailants fled northbound on Dunlap, then westbound on Mosby and northbound on Leath Street to Peach Avenue before disappearing. The men are described this way:

Suspect #1: A male black, five foot six to five foot eight, light complexion with freckles and wearing a dark hooded jacket, dark shoes. He was armed with a silver handgun.

Suspect #2: A male black, five foot eight to five foot ten, wearing a dark hooded jacket, light-colored pants and shoes.

Anyone with information on this crime should contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274). A cash award is available to anyone who reveals information leading to one or more arrests.

July 22, 2022

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
It was just after midnight on Thursday, July 26, 2012 when neighbors heard what sounded like shots coming from a house at 65 East Yates Road, south of Walnut Grove Road in east Memphis. Then they heard the sound of a vehicle speeding away.

When Memphis Police Officers arrived shortly after, they discovered the bodies of two men inside the residence. Anthony Conte, 26, and Robert Schmidt, 30, had both died of gunshot wounds.

Based on evidence found at the scene, MPD Homicide Bureau investigators believe the men were killed during a robbery. The case now is being worked by the Cold Case Unit, and detectives are asking the public’s help on the double murder.

Any witness or anyone with information is asked to call the Cold Case Hotline, (901) 636-2653, or to call CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH (2274). CrimeStoppers has an extraordinary award available of $10,000. When combined with the $2,000 usually available in all homicide cases, a total of $12,000 can be paid to someone for help that leads to an arrest.

June 17, 2022

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
A report of a shooting brought Memphis Police officers to the “Always On” heating and air conditioning company building at 2129 E. Person Avenue, just off Lamar Avenue in the Orange Mound neighborhood. It was high noon on Saturday, November 18, 2017.

When they arrived they found the business’s owner, Steve Guidry, 67, on the floor near his office. He was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene. Homicide detectives learned that a tan-colored SUV was seen on the property just before the murder occurred, and a blue four-door Chevrolet Impala or Malibu was seen leaving the property about the time of the shooting.

The Cold Case Unit of the Memphis Police Department is asking for the public’s help. Any witness to the shooting, or anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274) to report anonymously.

June 8, 2022

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
Firefighters with the Memphis Fire Department responded to a grass fire on what was then YMV Road, north of Fields Road and near Hicky Street in southwest Memphis. It was about 8 p.m. on October 16, 1974 — 47 years ago. As they worked to put out the fire they discovered a human body beneath a pile of burning debris.

The Memphis Police Department responded to a call from the Fire Department at 8:40 that night. The body later was identified as that of Gloria P. Johnson. The 19-year-old woman had been reported missing 10 days earlier. Cause of death was by multiple stab wounds, the Shelby County Medical Examiner ruled. She may have been killed and her body dumped in the field.

The Memphis Police Department’s Cold Case Unit is actively investigating this unsolved homicide case and is asking for the public’s help. The family has posted a new $10,000 extra award with CrimeStoppers in the case, making a total of $12,000 the amount available to someone who provides information that helps police make an arrest.

Anyone with information — it might be a witness from 1974 or someone who has heard information on this crime since then — is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH. A call is always anonymous and callers will be given a secret code.

June 3, 2022

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
Army Sergeant Calvin Wilhite Jr. and his fiance were leaving Beale Street and walking on S. Fourth Street just past the FedEx Forum on the night of Sunday, May 24, 2015 when Wilhite got into a short verbal altercation with two males who had pulled up alongside them in a vehicle. The couple, attempting to avoid further confrontation, crossed the street.

But the driver of the vehicle urged Wilhite back into the street and when he did so a passenger opened fire with a gun.

The vehicle, a greenish-gray four-door Chrysler Sebring, fled the scene, heading southbound across Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Wilhite was transported to Regional One Hospital where he later died of his gunshot injuries. His death was ruled a homicide by the Shelby County Medical Examiner.

Descriptions were obtained of the two suspects. The driver was described as a black male between 22 and 25 years old, with light complexion, hazel eyes and a high fade with curls on top. The passenger was a black male with dark complexion and chubby face. He also was between 22 and 25 years of age and had a fade hair style.

A special $20,000 award is available in this ongoing murder case for information leading to the arrest of one or more suspects. Anyone with helpful information is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH (2274).

May 13, 2022

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
It was 7:17 on Christmas night, December 25, 2019, when officers assigned to the Austin Peay Memphis Police station were sent to check out a shooting at Tessland Road and Hawkins Mill.

When they arrived they found an unresponsive man who had been shot sitting in a Volkswagon. Memphis Fire Dept. paramedics rushed Deron Davis to Regional One Hospital in critical condition. He later died.

The officers learned that Davis had driven to a nearby store after celebrating the holiday with his family. His wife reported his phone called hers but all she could hear was music playing.

Anyone with information on this murder is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274).