Jerome Maurice Buster Alford, an African-American/Black male, age 25, was killed on the afternoon of May 20, 2010, in Omaha, Nebraska. According to his obituary, he was born on September 20, 1984, and was remembered by a large, close-knit family.
That day, witnesses said he had just stepped out of an SUV near 24th and Grand Avenue when a car rolled up and someone opened fire, striking him multiple times and leaving him in the street.
Omaha homicide detectives canvassed the neighborhood immediately, but the clearest early lead was only the description of a dark-colored vehicle fleeing the scene. Family members later recalled the ordinary rhythms of that morning turning suddenly and irrevocably tragic by afternoon.
Loved ones described Jerome as a devoted father whose life had grown complicated in the months before the shooting. His sister told reporters he had become entangled with a gang and, days before he died, had come to her terrified, saying he d been targeted and kicked out. A month earlier, someone had shot up the home where he lived with his father, deepening the family s fear that violence was closing in around him. After his death, relatives spoke of a grief sharpened by the absence of answers.
Years later, the case remained unsolved. Police continued to seek tips, and Crime Stoppers highlighted an enhanced reward up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of a homicide suspect in Omaha. Despite periodic public appeals and renewed attention, authorities did not announce any arrests or name a suspect in Jerome Alford s killing, and his case has been listed among Omaha s unsolved homicides.
