Seventeen-year-old Tristen Latrell Rey Hochstetler was found fatally shot inside a residence in the 600 block of Avenue I in Killeen, Texas, on July 15, 2024. Police arrived about 2:31 p.m.; Justice of the Peace Nicola James pronounced him dead at 4:19 p.m. The Killeen Police Department identified him as the city’s seventh murder victim of 2024.

Tristen was born March 29, 2007, in Hutchinson, Kansas, and was raised by his mother, Kristen Hochstetler. He attended Ellison High School and graduated from Penn Foster High School at 16. Family and friends remembered him as warm and outgoing, with passions for cars, football, and video games, and described a close, inseparable bond with his mother. A Celebration of Life was held July 27, 2024, at the First Baptist Church of Killeen.

On July 18 detectives detained a person of interest for an unrelated offense; that individual’s identity has not been released and no murder charges have been announced. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Killeen Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division or Bell County Crime Stoppers. Did anyone in the Killeen area know Tristen or see anything that could help the investigation?