Leon Rivers, a 34-year-old Black man, was killed on the night of January 14, 2015, inside a home on Cates Avenue in the Fountain Park area of St. Louis. Family members, including children and grandchildren, were in the house while Rivers spent the evening in the back of the home in the laundry room with Tameka Whalen. Ramon D. Demery entered through an unlocked front door, recognized by Whalen, and drew a silver revolver with a white handle. According to court findings, Demery pressed the gun to Whalen’s head, ordered Rivers onto his knees, and a struggle followed in which Rivers tried to knock the gun away with a glass ashtray. The revolver fired; Rivers was struck in the chest and pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Police arrested Demery the next day and charged him with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon. At trial Demery testified that the shooting occurred during an attempted disarmament and claimed self-defense; the jury convicted him of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and the weapon counts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for second-degree murder with additional terms for the weapons convictions, and the Missouri Court of Appeals later affirmed the convictions and sentences.

If anyone knew Leon Rivers, the household that night, or has information about what happened on Cates Avenue on January 14, 2015, please share what you know.