On the night of November 1, 2020, 36-year-old male David Joshua Long from Fredericktown, Missouri, drove into the city of St. Louis, accompanied by a younger acquaintance. Long had traveled from the rural area of Madison County, picking up 20-year-old Ashlyn Ketcherside from her father's home in Farmington earlier that evening. The pair arrived in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis, parking their blue sedan on the 5900 block of Bartmer Avenue.
Just before 10:00 p.m., the quiet of the residential street was shattered by gunfire directed at their vehicle.
Officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene shortly after the shooting reported late that Sunday night. Upon arrival, investigators discovered both Long and Ketcherside inside the parked car, having sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Long was found deceased in the driver’s seat, while Ketcherside was discovered in the backseat, where she had reportedly attempted to take cover when the firing began. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, marking a double homicide that contributed to a particularly violent year for the city.
In the aftermath of the killings, homicide detectives struggled to identify the perpetrator. Family members of the victims later shared their belief that the trip to St. Louis may have been a trap, suggesting that Long was unknowingly being set up for a physical assault that escalated into lethal violence. Despite these theories and the launch of an investigation by the Homicide Division, no witnesses came forward with actionable information, and the shooter managed to escape the area undetected. As of the last available updates following the incident, no suspects had been publicly named or taken into custody, and the case remained unsolved with no arrests made in connection with the deaths.
