In mid-April 2023, 19-year-old D’Marea Thornton of Toledo stopped answering family calls and was reported missing after last being seen April 15 in the 1800 block of Wychwood. Family searches and a public missing-person alert followed. Thornton had previously survived a shooting the prior summer, which heightened concern when he disappeared.

On the evening of April 18, family and a community search party, acting on a Facebook tip, went to a vacant two-story house in the 800 block of Vance Street and found Thornton’s body on the second floor. Responding medics pronounced him dead at the scene; the Lucas County Coroner’s Office ruled the manner homicide, listing multiple gunshot wounds.

Local coverage identifies Thornton as the 11th homicide victim in Toledo in 2023 and describes the case as unsolved. Police have confirmed a homicide investigation but have not released a motive, a timeline of events that led him to the vacant house, or the identities of any suspects. If readers have information about Thornton’s movements in west or central Toledo in April 2023, please share what you know with Crime Stoppers or local investigators.