Joe Acosta was an 18-year-old Hispanic student from San Luis Río Colorado who had moved to Phoenix to study at Arizona State University. In April 2018, sometime in the late morning, he walked into a west Valley hospital with a gunshot wound; staff called Phoenix police at about 11:30 a.m. and he died shortly after arriving in the emergency department. His death was treated as a homicide.

Detectives traced the shooting to an abandoned property near 64th Avenue and Van Buren Street in west Phoenix. Officers found stolen vehicles, shell casings, and other physical evidence at the site. Phoenix police publicly identified 27-year-old Carlos Pacheco as the primary suspect and said a second, still-unidentified man had been involved in the shooting; a Silent Witness flyer asked for tips and offered a reward.

Reports describe the case as unsolved and do not mention a criminal conviction tied to Joe’s death. If anyone knew Joe, saw activity near 64th Avenue and Van Buren in April 2018, or has information about the unidentified man, please share what is known.