On a cold February morning in Pittsburgh, the body of 29-year-old Denard A. Burton, a Black male, was discovered lying on a snow-covered sidewalk in the Homewood neighborhood. It was Saturday, February 10, 2018, when a passerby spotted him around 7:45 a.m. on Stranahan Street and alerted the authorities. An investigation by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office would later confirm that Burton had been shot multiple times.
Originally from Detroit, Burton had made Pittsburgh his
home for roughly five years before his untimely death. The circumstances leading to his murder were shrouded in mystery from the very beginning. Pittsburgh police noted that there were no 911 calls reporting gunfire in the area, nor had the city's ShotSpotter system been activated, leaving them with a scarce amount of evidence to piece together what had happened.
As the months passed, the investigation into Denard Burton's death grew cold. In April of that year, police conceded that they had no leads and were appealing to the public for any information that could help them identify a suspect. Burton's family, including his mother, Nancy Young, were left to grapple with the sudden and violent loss. He was a father to two young sons, who were just one and eight years old at the time of his murder.
To date, there have been no arrests made in connection with the homicide of Denard A. Burton, and the case remains unsolved. Police continue to ask anyone with information to come forward.
