On the morning of September 14, 2016, a red Laclede Cab was found idling near Laclede Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard in the Central West End of Saint Louis. The driver, 38-year-old Timothy Grice, was discovered unresponsive around 10:30 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Detectives concluded the shooting likely occurred between about 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., and that the vehicle had not raised suspicion earlier because cab drivers often parked there while waiting for fares.

Investigators determined the killing occurred during an attempted robbery. Prosecutors charged two teenage suspects, Shakur Ellis and Jerry Reese, in December 2016. Court work over the following years reconstructed the night: Ellis, Reese and others confronted Grice intending to rob him, and the encounter escalated with Grice shot in the neck and head. In November 2018 Ellis, who agreed to testify against a co-defendant, was sentenced to ten years for second-degree murder; Reese received a 25-year sentence on five felonies including second-degree murder, and a third man, Savion Smith, received a 15-year sentence related to receiving stolen property.

If anyone remembers seeing a red Laclede Cab in the Central West End in the early hours of September 14, 2016, or has information about that night, please come forward.