William Michael Rayford was 19 when he was shot and killed in a North St. Louis alley in the summer of 2008. The shooting happened in the 5200 block of Euclid Avenue; the family described the scene as bullet-riddled and held a vigil there after the killing.

William’s mother, Sharon Rayford, and other relatives turned their grief into a public plea against community violence. They organized a march and vigil in the Mark Twain neighborhood that began at a local elementary school and ended at the alley where he died. The family noted that the loss compounded an earlier tragedy: an aunt was preparing for an annual march for her son who had been missing for years.

No publicly reported arrests or identified suspects have been shared in the years after the homicide. If anyone has information about what happened in the 5200 block of Euclid Avenue that summer, please share it with investigators.