Xavier Stern

Xavier L. Stern was a 15-year-old with a bright smile and a charming personality who loved his family, playing video games, and football. Born on August 1, 2000, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the Black teen was known to his loved ones as a bright and humble young man. He was a talented athlete who played for the West Philly Tar Heels and later the Overbrook Monarchs youth football team, where his skills as a linebacker and defensive lineman earned him the nicknames "Megatron" and "Lil' Ray Lewis." His coaches remembered him as a hardworking, compassionate, and funny kid who never missed a practice and helped lead his team to an undefeated championship season in 2012. Though his family acknowledged he wasn't perfect, they remembered a great kid who was finding his way.

In the fall of 2015, Xavier, a sophomore at Upper Darby High School, was on probation stemming from an assault charge earlier that year. After a verbal dispute with his father on November 22, he left his family’s home in Upper Darby, cutting off the electronic ankle monitor he was required to wear. For several weeks, his family believed he was "on the run" but that friends knew his whereabouts. Communication eventually ceased, and his family reported him missing to police on December 10, 2015. His mother, Kia Downs, later told police she had received an anonymous phone call telling her to go to the area of 24th and Park Streets in North Philadelphia to find her son.

On the evening of Friday, December 11, 2015, Xavier’s parents went to that neighborhood, a place where the family had previously lived. At around 7:20 p.m., they discovered Xavier in the back seat of a broken-down 1998 Lincoln Town Car parked on the 2400 block of North Park Avenue. The car had a flat tire and a tarp-covered window, and neighbors said local kids were known to hang out in it. When Philadelphia Police officers arrived, they found Xavier slumped over, wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.

The Philadelphia Police Department’s Homicide Division took over the investigation. Chief Inspector Scott Small noted that Xavier’s father was at the scene prior to the police arrival and identified his son. Crime scene investigators processed the car, but no weapon or ballistic evidence was recovered. Detectives interviewed Xavier’s parents and the owner of the Lincoln, who lived on the block. They also began searching for surveillance video from nearby real-time crime cameras and private security systems for any clues into the teen’s final moments. Police believed Xavier may have been sleeping in the abandoned car before he was killed.

Just days after his death, the community gathered to mourn. On December 13, about 300 people packed the Overbrook Monarchs' football field for a prayer vigil. Mourners, many wearing T-shirts with Xavier's picture, remembered his fun personality and bright smile. His coaches spoke of their last conversation with him, in which he sounded like he was going to get back on the right track. In a heartbreaking tribute, they presented his grieving mother with his No. 80 jersey and a championship trophy. "He did not deserve that. Not that, not violent like that," his grandfather, Richard Stonewall Jr., told reporters. His grandmother, Michelle Stern, added, "I pray that they find out who did this to my grandson cause he did not deserve this." A fundraiser was created to help his family with funeral expenses.

As of early 2016, no arrests had been made in Xavier Stern’s murder, and no suspects or motive had been publicly identified. The case remains unsolved, one of many that year in Philadelphia that left a family searching for answers. The city offers a reward of $20,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in any homicide case. The Philadelphia Police Department encourages anyone with information to come forward.