Richard Michael Stoltz, a 63-year-old World War II veteran, was murdered on April 30, 1979, in East St. Louis, Illinois. Stoltz was stacking bricks in the back of a pickup truck when he was approached by Andre Jones and Freddie Tiller, who were with Jones’s girlfriend Laurie Elam. Tiller told Jones he intended to rob Stoltz and asked for Jones’s .22-caliber Rohm revolver; Tiller then shot Stoltz, causing his immediate death.

Jones and Tiller were later indicted for the murders of Stoltz, Samuel Nersesian, and Debra Brown, charged with acting without lawful justification and with intent to kill under the Illinois murder statute. Jones pleaded guilty to all three counts and was initially sentenced to death by electrocution for each count; the death sentence for Stoltz’s murder was later vacated. Jones’s convictions were upheld on direct appeal, and his subsequent federal habeas corpus relief was denied.

Anyone who knew Stoltz or who has information about the events of April 30, 1979, in East St. Louis is asked to share what they remember.