On the night of May 3, 2015, two sisters were found shot to death in a vacant lot near the 3000 block of North Vandeventer Avenue in north St. Louis. Officers responding to a midnight call discovered 20-year-old Antquonette Hale and her 15-year-old sister Tahnaizja Smith lying together; both had fatal gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsy reports and news accounts say Antquonette was shot in the back, while Tahnaizja suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her face, arm, and chest.

Neighbors reported hearing gunfire but investigators were unable to locate eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the sisters’ grandmother told media the family believed the girls were not trouble-makers though they may have been hanging out with the wrong crowd. The St. Louis Regional Crime Stoppers lists the double homicide as an open case and no arrests have been announced. If anyone knew Antquonette or Tahnaizja, their movements that night, or has other information, please come forward.