Eight years after Herion Chase was gunned down in a barbecue restaurant parking lot on San Antonio's Northeast Side, investigators still don't know who pulled the trigger. San Antonio Crime Stoppers is now offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case, reviving a search for answers that has stretched from a 2019 balloon release at his family's request to a wave of new city investment in cold-case technology.
Chase, 44, was shot and killed outside Big Cassel Smoke House at 5855 IH-10 E. at around 3:32 a.m. on September 8, 2018, according to WOAI. Police say Chase was standing in the parking lot when two unknown Black men were spotted across the street next to a white vehicle; one of the men pulled out a firearm and shot at Chase, who was struck once and died at the scene. The two suspects then fled westbound on IH-10 in the white vehicle, and police are still seeking their identification and location.
Surveillance video released shortly after the shooting showed the two suspects standing near the light-colored car before shots were fired, and the footage also revealed that a second man, described as an innocent bystander, was wounded during the same gunfire, according to KSAT. That second victim self-transported to Northeast Baptist Hospital claiming he had been shot in the same parking lot, per MySA, which also reported that the Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled Chase's death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the chest. Officers had responded to the scene around 4 a.m. following reports of a parking lot fight.
A Family Still Waiting for Answers
On the one-year anniversary of the murder in September 2019, Chase's family gathered for a balloon release at Eastview Cemetery and publicly voiced frustration over the lack of investigative updates, KSAT reported at the time. Chase's sisters, Ebony Debrow and Seletha Lowe, urged any witnesses to come forward and contact homicide detectives directly. Chase was known locally by the nickname Dinky, and he was the older brother of Edwin Debrow Jr., who drew national media attention decades earlier after being convicted of a San Antonio murder in 1991 at age 12, according to Murderpedia. Debrow had cited his older brother as a primary influence prior to that conviction, though the dossier does not connect that history to the circumstances of Chase's own death.
The case remains formally unsolved, and it sits within a broader pattern of difficulty San Antonio has had closing homicide cases. Texas Department of Public Safety data analyzed by criminal justice researchers showed SAPD recorded a homicide clearance rate of roughly 25.1% in 2024, according to Right On Crime, meaning state data indicated roughly three out of four homicides in the city went unsolved that year.
Fewer Homicides, But Old Cases Linger
San Antonio's overall homicide numbers have been trending downward even as older cases like Chase's stay open. The city recorded 105 homicides in 2025, down from 127 in 2024, continuing a multi-year decline from post-pandemic highs, per KSAT's tracking of SAPD-handled cases. A March 2026 evaluation by criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio, cited by the San Antonio Report, found citywide homicides fell 18.5% and violent street crime dropped 21.1% in 2025 following the launch of SAPD's Violent Crime Reduction Plan, which combines hotspot policing with place-based interventions.
City leaders have also moved to address the backlog of unsolved killings directly. In April 2026, San Antonio police leaders accepted more than $1 million in federal community project funding to launch the department's first forensic genealogy initiative aimed at solving cold-case homicides and sexual assaults, according to a Facebook post from the effort's backers. Officials noted at the time that SAPD had 366 unsolved murder cases over the prior five years. It is not clear from available reporting whether Chase's case is among those slated for review under the new genealogy program.
How to Submit a Tip
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867 or submit a tip through the San Antonio Crime Stoppers website. Under local Crime Stoppers guidelines, cash reward payouts of up to $5,000 require tipsters to submit details anonymously through official channels before law enforcement independently obtains the information, according to KENS5 reported; information already known to police at the time of submission is ineligible for payout.
Even as years pass, investigators are not required to give up. The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains a specialized Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigation Team to assist municipal police with cold cases, and murder carries no statute of limitations under Texas law, according to Comal County Crime Stoppers, meaning investigators can pursue viable leads indefinitely regardless of how much time has passed. For Chase's family, that means the search for the two men who fled down IH-10 eight years ago is still technically open, waiting on a tip that has yet to come in.
