In the early morning of Tuesday, June 5, 2007, the body of 36-year-old Beranda Hunt was found in an alley in the 4500 block of Maffitt Avenue in St. Louis. Hunt, a Black woman who lived a block away on Palm Street, was discovered nude and had been beaten severely in the head. Investigators believed the assault likely occurred elsewhere and that her body was dumped in the alley; the body was found around 6:30 a.m.

Detectives immediately noted striking similarities between Hunt’s murder and another killing in the same North St. Louis neighborhood: on May 27, 2007, 49-year-old Sherion R. Evans was found less than a mile away, also nude and fatally beaten, with an additional puncture wound to the neck. The proximity in time and location and the condition of both victims prompted police to publicly investigate whether the deaths were connected and possibly the work of the same offender.

Despite those leads, no specific suspect was identified and Hunt’s murder remains unsolved. If anyone knew Beranda, saw either alley in late May or early June 2007, or has information about these cases, please come forward.