Elijah Newman was 45 and had recently moved to the St. Louis area to build a new life for his family. A Ghanaian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 2020, he worked long hours as a Lyft driver and was supporting five children, one in the U.S. and four in Ghana. He had been in St. Louis about six weeks when he was killed.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on April 15, 2021, police found Newman inside his vehicle in the 1200 block of Peggy Court in the Baden neighborhood with a Lyft light on the dashboard. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators described the incident as a botched carjacking linked to a string of recent carjackings targeting ride-hailing drivers.

Police traced a ride request placed under a fake name to an email and then to a cellphone belonging to 17-year-old Torian Wilson; the phone had pinged near the scene. Officers arrested Wilson, recovered a handgun, and ballistics matched a casing found next to Newman to that weapon. Wilson later pleaded guilty to amended charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action and received a total sentence of 25 years.

If anyone knew Elijah, his routes, or his passengers that night, any information could still help clarify how this happened.