Gentria Lynn Thomas, known to loved ones as "Genny," was a 43-year-old Black woman who, along with her brother Murray Burnam, was raised by her aunt, Betty Guy, in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the death of her mother, Rosa Jean Burnam, Gentria and her brother joined their aunt's household, a bustling home where she was raised alongside her five cousins. Her aunt Betty was a formidable woman, a single mother who worked her way up at General Motors, instilling a sense of resilience in the children she raised. This was the family that loved Gentria and was left shattered by her violent death.
On the morning of April 6, 2004, Gentria's body was discovered in downtown Cincinnati. She was found under an expressway overpass in the 300 block of East Third Street, between Broadway and Sycamore Street, an area directly across from where the Great American Ball Park now stands. Her brother, Murray, later shared the disturbing detail that his sister was found under a pile of clothes.
The Cincinnati Police Department was called to the scene, and the suspicious nature of her death immediately led them to open a homicide investigation. An autopsy would later reveal that Gentria had been strangled to death. Her brother also disclosed that investigators told the family she had bite marks on her body, a grim testament to the violence she faced in her final moments.
The Cincinnati Police Department's Homicide Unit took charge of the case, but the investigation proved difficult from the start. Despite the public location where her body was found, there were few immediate leads. Detectives worked the case, but no suspects were publicly identified, and no arrests were made. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into years, Gentria's murder became a cold case, one of dozens of unsolved slayings of women in Hamilton and Butler counties that local organizations would later highlight in an effort to generate new information.
Over the years, Gentria's family has continued to grieve and seek answers. Her brother, Murray Burnam, has spoken out about the pain of not knowing who was responsible for his sister's death and the disparity he perceives in how cases are treated by law enforcement and the media. In 2021, while the nation was captivated by the search for Gabby Petito, Burnam questioned why his sister's case, and those of other Black and brown women, did not receive the same level of priority or attention. "When it comes to murdered and missing black and brown women and girls of color, there's not that stamp of priority on it," he said, reflecting a frustration shared by many families of color whose loved ones' cases have gone cold.
The case of Gentria Thomas remains open and unsolved. Her image has been featured on posters created by the organization UCanSpeakForMe, which are displayed in Hamilton and Butler county jails to encourage anyone with information to come forward. The Ohio Attorney General's Office also lists her case on its Unsolved Homicides database, a standing reminder of a life cut short and a family still waiting for justice. The Cincinnati Police Department has periodically renewed its push for information, tweeting about the case on the anniversary of her death and urging the public to help. As of April 2021, investigators were still seeking tips.
No arrests have ever been made in the murder of Gentria Thomas, and the case is now more than two decades old. The family continues to hope that someone, somewhere, knows what happened on that April day in 2004 and will finally have the courage to speak up. The Cincinnati Police Department asks anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to contact the CPD Homicide Unit at 513-352-3542.
