Matthew Groves was 26 years old, riding his skateboard through west Phoenix in the early hours of July 21, 2018, when he stopped to rest on the patio of the Purple Turtle Bar & Grill near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road. Within minutes, he was shot dead after a brief physical struggle with an unknown man. Eight years later, no one has been convicted, and his family is still fighting to change that.
Groves' mother, Katherine Kirkconnell-Evans, still remembers getting the call that her son had been shot. She told ABC15 Arizona that Matthew was a big-hearted person who loved music and being with people, and who befriended people living on the streets. He had come to Arizona for school and was living with different family members at the time he was killed.
According to Silent Witness, Groves was found shot around 4 a.m. that Saturday outside 5100 W. Indian School Road. Surveillance footage reviewed by Phoenix police captured Groves riding his skateboard before going off camera, followed shortly by a man on a bicycle who reappeared riding in the opposite direction carrying Groves' stolen backpack, according to KTAR News. Police initially investigated the shooting as a robbery after the backpack was taken.
An Arrest, Then a Dismissal
A friend helped track down the suspect, and police made an arrest in the case in 2019. But the case was dismissed after the arrest, and the suspect was released. Per police, the man admitted to stealing the backpack but denied shooting Groves. ABC15 is not naming him because he is not currently charged in the case, and police have connected no one else to the murder.
Kirkconnell-Evans said the county attorney believed there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. Court documents cited by ABC15 show the case was dismissed because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction. That standard reflects the actual policy of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which will not pursue charges unless evidence meets the threshold of a reasonable likelihood of conviction before a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt, a far higher bar than the probable cause needed for police to make an arrest, per the office's own guidance.
Because homicide carries no statute of limitations under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-107, according to FindLaw, prosecutors could still file murder charges in the case at any point, regardless of how many years have passed since Groves was killed.
A Reward and an Annual Return to Phoenix
Groves' family held its first vigil after his murder and has returned to the Valley each July since. Kirkconnell-Evans travels back to Arizona every summer to honor her son, and the family now offers a $10,000 private reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Silent Witness has added its own reward of up to $2,000 for anonymous tips submitted to law enforcement, and Kirkconnell-Evans hopes the surveillance video and other evidence will finally generate the tips that lead to answers.
Silent Witness runs 24/7 anonymous tip lines in English at 480-WITNESS and in Spanish at 480-TESTIGO, and tipsters do not have to reveal their identity to police or the courts to collect a reward. In July 2020, Groves' mother revealed the family had also hired private investigator Kelly Townsend to independently gather tips and pursue leads after prosecutors dropped the initial charges, a step that underscores how far the family has gone to keep the case alive outside official channels.
A Statewide Backlog of Cold Cases
Groves' case sits among a much larger pile of unresolved homicides across the state. Phoenix Police Department Silent Witness coordinator Sgt. Brian Bower said in 2026 that there are more than 700 active cold cases across Arizona, a number that underscores how heavily investigators lean on public tips once their own leads run dry, according to a post shared by ABC15 Arizona.
Phoenix police data show the department's homicide clearance rate averaged 72% between 2009 and 2024, reaching a decade high of 87% in 2023, though those annual figures include older cold cases that get closed in a later year, per FOX 10 Phoenix. The Purple Turtle sits within Phoenix's Maryvale police precinct, a 76-square-mile district that accounts for roughly 20% of all police radio calls citywide, a heavy workload Hoodline has previously documented along the same 51st Avenue corridor.
Groves decided to become an organ donor in 2018 and ultimately saved five lives through his donations, a legacy his family has held onto in the years since. ABC15's Arizona Crime Uncovered series, which provides in-depth coverage of ongoing cases involving victims still awaiting justice, plans to follow up with police and submit public-records requests as it continues reporting on the case. The episode, featuring a one-on-one interview with Groves' mother, airs at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
