Ivarene Lett, 97, was found beaten to death in her sixth-floor apartment at Van Buren Tower in Oakland on May 11, 2009. Her death was recorded as the city’s oldest homicide victim. Lett was an active community member who still drove a vintage Chevy and attended weekly dance classes into her late nineties, which made the brutality of the assault and the location in a primarily owner-occupied high-rise in Adams Point especially shocking.

The Oakland Police Department increased security at the Van Buren Tower after the murder. Mayor Ron Dellums offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The case remained unsolved, with no suspects immediately identified; the killing heightened fears among elderly residents and fed broader concerns about public safety amid discussions of police budget cuts.

If anyone knew Ivarene, lived at Van Buren Tower in 2009, or has information about that night, please come forward to help bring her family justice.