Torae Sanders, 31, was fatally shot in the driveway of her home in Estate Rattan on St. Croix. A preliminary investigation found that two unidentified people approached her as she arrived and fired shots that struck her upper body. She was taken by ambulance to Juan F. Luis Hospital, where she died.
Police identified her through her next of kin. St. Thomas Source reported the department's account: "The victim was identified by her next of kin as Torae Sanders, 31." The Source also reported that the Virgin Islands Police Department's Major Crimes Unit is investigating the homicide.
What investigators have said
The Virgin Islands Daily News reported that two unidentified individuals approached Sanders as she arrived in the driveway and fired shots, "striking her upper body." Published accounts do not name a suspect, a motive, or a charge in her killing, and they do not describe an arrest.
The Saturday-night timing is the part these accounts share. The date is not. The V.I. Consortium placed the 911 report at approximately 11:48 p.m. on Oct. 31. The Daily News, published Nov. 2, described a report of a woman shot in Estate Rattan at 11:48 p.m. Saturday; that Saturday was Oct. 31. WAVY.com reported that the 911 center received the call at approximately 11:50 p.m. on Nov. 7. Those accounts have not been reconciled here with an original police report.
Two tallies, and last year's unfinished cases
The running count is unsettled in the same way. St. Thomas Source reported that Sanders' death marked the 27th homicide on St. Croix and the 45th in the territory. The Consortium, dating the killing to Oct. 31, reported it as the 28th on St. Croix and the 46th territory-wide, with 18 recorded on St. Thomas and none reported on St. John.
Those figures are newsroom tallies, not a single official total in this reporting. The St. Croix Source says its 2026 list is drawn from VIPD reports, arranged by date and island, and that it does not include suicides or vehicular homicides. A difference of one can be a classification choice. It can also be a missed or added case. The published accounts do not say which.
Last year's police figures are firmer, and they are not small. The Consortium, citing figures presented by the Virgin Islands Police Department, reported that 35 people were killed across the territory in 2025: 19 in the St. Thomas-St. John district and 16 on St. Croix. Twelve of those St. Croix homicide cases remained pending and under active investigation.
Estate Rattan, and a separate Saturday
Estate Rattan already had a killing on the 2025 list. The Consortium reported that Janice Rivera was killed there on Dec. 30, 2025, and that 22-year-old Jaden M. Francis was arrested and charged. That is a different case. Nothing in the reporting connects Francis, or Rivera's killing, to Sanders.
The Consortium also reported that three people were killed on St. Croix in less than four days, between Oct. 20 and Oct. 24. Separately, the Daily News reported a Saturday fatal shooting on Hull Bay Road on St. Thomas that left 39-year-old Ohio resident Evan Haynes Jr. dead. The paper presented that shooting and the Estate Rattan killing as happening the same day: Saturday, Oct. 31.
What is established is narrower than the totals. Sanders was shot in her own driveway, taken to Juan F. Luis Hospital, and died. Major Crimes has the case. No suspect has been named in the reporting, while a dozen St. Croix killings from 2025 were still open when police presented those figures.
