Derek DeWayne Washington, a 23-year-old Black man, was reported missing from Birmingham, Alabama on April 3, 2015. His family searched with flyers and phone calls and pursued tips for months without a confirmed lead about his whereabouts in the Wylam area.

On January 29, 2017, skeletal remains were found in a densely overgrown area of western Jefferson County near Shady Grove Road and close to the 5300 block of Wood Avenue. The remains were later identified by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office as Washington’s. Investigators described the body as having been at that location for months, did not publicly release a cause of death, and treated the matter as a homicide, turning the investigation over to Birmingham police.

No suspect has been publicly identified and no arrest was announced in the materials describing the discovery; investigators asked anyone with information about what happened to come forward. Does anyone who knew Derek or who was in the Wylam or Booker Heights area in 2015–2017 have information that could help?