Jason R. Dudley was 32 when he was fatally shot on January 2, 2020, in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Known as Jaybird, he was a father of two and worked as a tree lineman. Officers found him inside a vehicle that had been reported stolen; he died of a gunshot wound after emergency personnel arrived.

Investigators described a chaotic struggle inside the car that involved a firearm and culminated in the weapon discharging and striking Dudley. Police identified a person of interest soon after the shooting and detained that individual for questioning. The Circuit Attorney’s Office later decided not to file murder charges, concluding there was insufficient evidence to disprove a claim of self-defense or to meet the standard for conviction, and the suspect was released.

The killing remains unresolved in court; the exact sequence of events in the struggle has not produced a criminal prosecution. Did anyone in Dutchtown or who knew Jason see or hear anything the night of January 2, 2020?