Christina Marie Dirks was 39 when she was shot and killed in Des Moines, Iowa, on the night of May 7, 2021. Police were called shortly after 9:20 p.m. to an apartment building at 4024 Hubbell Avenue; officers found Dirks outside the building with gunshot wounds and she later died at a hospital. Her death was recorded as Des Moines’ third homicide of 2021.

Investigators focused on Rustin Dean Rice, with whom Dirks had previously shared a personal relationship and who had lived with her in the Hubbell Avenue apartment before she moved out on May 6. Witnesses identified a suspected shooter and told officers he had gone back inside the building. A tactical team secured the scene and entered the apartment just after midnight on May 8, finding Rice dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities concluded Rice intentionally shot Dirks and then killed himself; no other participant was publicly identified.

A fundraiser described Dirks as a loved mother, sister, and daughter and sought help for her brother and children. Does anyone have information about Dirks, her last movements that night, or the Hubbell Avenue apartment complex?