On the early morning of December 14, 2019, officers in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri, responded to reports of shots fired in the 10000 block of Hedge Drive. At about 2:14 a.m. first responders found Kendric Kortez Donelson, a 35-year-old Black man, unresponsive in front of a home. He was pronounced dead at the scene; an autopsy determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound.

The Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department asked the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis to lead the homicide investigation. Detectives canvassed the neighborhood and followed leads, and within days identified a suspect. On December 18, 2019, authorities arrested Jimmy Dale Smith; the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged him with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, and he was held on a $750,000 cash-only bond.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about Donelson that could help the investigation, please share what is known.