On the night of August 2, 2015, 24-year-old Jeffrey Sylvia Jr. was found dead in the street near Acushnet Avenue and Blackmer Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The city’s ShotSpotter system detected gunfire just before 1:40 a.m.; first responders located Sylvia with a single gunshot wound to the face and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators soon focused on two suspects, Michael Sousa, then 22, and Darian Cardoza, then 17. Police say the pair planned to rob Sylvia because they believed he was a heroin dealer; witnesses reported the men split about $3,000 taken from the victim and that Sousa admitted shooting Sylvia in the face with a hollow-tip bullet. The firearm used was later recovered from an abandoned house in New Bedford.

Charges were filed within days: Cardoza was arrested on August 13 on counts including murder, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm; Sousa was initially arrested hours after the homicide for allegedly providing false information and by the end of August faced upgraded counts including murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, armed robbery, and defacing a firearm’s serial number. Does anyone have information about Sylvia’s activities that night or about the area around Acushnet Avenue and Blackmer Street?