African American male Jovantay Alexander, 19, was found on the night of January 19, 2013, lying unresponsive near 54th and Laflin Street in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Responding officers and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office reported that the 19-year-old had been shot in the face and pronounced dead at the scene, the call coming in around 9:30 p.m.
in the 5400 block of South Laflin.
He was identified as residing on the 1800 block of East 72nd Street, a detail that underscored how far from home the 19-year-old had wandered on a winter night that ended in sudden violence.
Initial accounts gave few clues beyond the brutality.
Reporters were told the 19-year-old had been shot once in the face and multiple times in the body, and that detectives were canvassing the area for answers as neighbors absorbed the shock.
Police said they did not believe the 19-year-old was affiliated with a gang, a note that narrowed, but did not solve, the mystery of motive. The scene at 54th and Laflin was taped off under the glow of streetlights as investigators worked through the night.
By the following day, public updates still offered no resolution.
News outlets repeated that no one was in custody and that Area Central detectives were investigating.
There were no suspect descriptions and no arrests announced in connection with the 19-year-old's killing, and subsequent roundups of that weekend's shootings likewise noted the absence of an arrest in his case.
Over time, memorial pages would remember the 19-year-old by name and date, but published follow-ups did not report a suspect being identified.
