Maleaha Talton was 16 and a sophomore at McCluer North High School when she was killed in the fall of 2016. Her family described her as vibrant and outspoken, with a love of music and hairstyling. They also said she was in a turbulent, abusive relationship with a 22-year-old man, Evander Thompson, and had sought protection through restraining orders.

On November 4, 2016, Maleaha’s body was found wrapped in a rug and concealed in woods along the Ted Jones Bike Trail in Ferguson, Missouri. Investigators determined she had been brutally beaten and shot in the head at another location 24 to 48 hours before her body was left on the trail. Her mother said she believed Maleaha had been lured into a home prior to the killing.

The Ferguson Police Department immediately named Evander Thompson a person of interest. He remained at large for more than a year until tips generated after a local true crime broadcast led police to an apartment in Hazelwood, where Thompson was arrested in February 2018 and held at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center. Does anyone have information about Maleaha, her movements in late October and early November 2016, or the relationship referenced by her family?