In the quiet minutes after midnight on July 5, 2020, deputies were called to the 24000 block of Front Street in the unincorporated village of Como, outside Sterling, Illinois. There they found Jason A. Chapman, a male, age 43, lying in the front yard of his home, dead from a gunshot wound. Investigators said he was shot late Saturday night and discovered around 12:30 a.m. Sunday; the victim's ethnicity was not publicly specified in the reporting available online. Illinois State Police assisted Whiteside County at the scene as the death was immediately treated as a homicide.
Jason A. Chapman, a White male, age 43, was born in Sterling on August 16, 1976, and “died Sunday, July 5, 2020 at his home,” according to the local obituary. He worked as a laborer with Local 727 and was known for riding his motorcycle and drawing; he was also a father and grandfather.
As detectives pieced together the last hours of the, 43-year-old victim's life, they narrowed the shooting to a window between about 10:15 p.m. on July 4 and 12:30 a.m. on July 5. Early on, investigators ruled out the possibility of a stray holiday bullet; “this was a homicide,” the sheriff emphasized. Teams conducted dozens of interviews, searched the nearby Rock River with sonar for a weapon or evidence, and coordinated with state and federal agencies. A $15,000 reward, $10,000 from the family and, $5,000 from Crime Stoppers—was offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Years later, the case of Jason A. Chapman, age 43, remained unsolved. In an August 2, 2024 account, Jason Chapman's parents publicly pressed for answers, noting there had been no suspects identified and no arrests made in his killing, which occurred in his Front Street yard around 12:30 a.m. on July 5, 2020.
Across initial bulletins and later retrospectives alike, authorities consistently reported no arrests and no publicly named suspects in the homicide of Jason A. Chapman, a male, age 43, from Sterling/Como. As of the most recent local coverage, the investigation remained open, the reward information stood as a reminder of the family's resolve.
