The investigation into Jhené Audrict’s death remains unresolved, and First Alert 4 reported that the case had not been taken over by the homicide division. Her mother, Melissa Crawford, has questioned how her legally blind 21-year-old daughter came to be shot in the back of the head and found without the glasses she relied on. Audrict was found on August 17 near an abandoned church at Minnesota Avenue and Bowen Street, after a day-long search.
Crawford told First Alert 4 that she last spoke with Audrict on August 15, when her daughter was on her way to her boyfriend’s house. Crawford said Audrict told her she felt nervous about the visit because the two were having issues. The next morning, Crawford said, the boyfriend called to report that Audrict was missing.
Crawford said a city worker found Audrict’s body between an abandoned house and an abandoned church after the search. She said her daughter had been shot in the back of the head and was not wearing the glasses she needed to see.
What remains unresolved
Crawford told the station she does not believe her daughter died by suicide. She described Audrict as adventurous and well educated, saying she had lived in Hawaii for a year and a half and was attending college when she died.
First Alert 4 reported that police said the circumstances of Audrict’s death remained under investigation and that the case had not yet been taken over by the homicide division. That update does not establish how officials have classified the death.
A Mother's Call for Justice
Crawford said she intends to keep seeking answers and wants to use her daughter’s case to advocate for the transgender community, domestic-violence awareness and mental health, according to First Alert 4.
The Human Rights Campaign has published reporting on fatal violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. A 2017 report from STLPR noted that young Black transgender women face a particularly high risk of murder.
What data and official findings can—and cannot—show
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2024 report said it had recorded 372 deaths of transgender and gender-expansive people from fatal violence since 2013, including at least 36 in the 12 months covered by the report. The foundation says it records case information in an internal database and reviews it quarterly; those figures do not establish the circumstances of Audrict’s death. Separately, the FBI’s Missouri summary listed 9 reported gender-identity-bias hate-crime incidents in 2021 and 1 in 2020. Those figures count reported hate-crime incidents, not all violence or the circumstances of this case. The City of St. Louis says its Medical Examiner’s Office determines cause of death and operates independently from law enforcement. That is a separate role from a police investigation or assignment to a homicide unit, and it does not by itself establish how Audrict’s death was classified.
Elsewhere in the state, a Springfield man was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a transgender woman, according to Greene County officials cited by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In Illinois, Tremon Hill was charged with murder in the 2018 shooting death of transgender woman Dejanay Stanton, according to The Advocate.
For now, Audrict's case remains unresolved, with police saying only that it is still under review. Anyone with information can contact the SLMPD Missing Persons Unit at 314-444-5301.
