Erik Isaac Nañez was 15 when his body was found in the early morning of September 18, 2019, at the intersection of E Calle Joya de Ventura and South Avenida Selva Del Ocote on Tucson’s south side. Responding officers observed obvious gunshot trauma and pronounced the teen dead at the scene. Neighbors said they had heard gunshots the previous evening, September 17, and witnesses reported several people and vehicles leaving the area after the shots, though no 911 calls were made at the time.

Detectives opened a homicide investigation, conducted multiple interviews and executed search warrants. Early tips named possible suspects, but investigators lacked evidence to make arrests. Forensic work and further interviews established that Nañez had gone to the area that night for an arranged transaction.

A later, separate fatal shooting on February 21, 2021, produced forensic evidence that linked DNA from the 2019 scene to 19-year-old Edsel Cecena-Marquez. Cecena-Marquez was identified as the suspect in Nañez’s killing; he was himself deceased in the 2021 incident. Tucson police notified the Nañez family and closed the investigation.

Did anyone living in the neighborhood in September 2019 see or hear anything that might add detail about who was present that night?