Suzanne Marie Hummel was a woman defined by devotion to her two daughters and a work ethic that kept her constantly in motion. A 39-year-old divorced single mother, she lived in Richmond, Texas, but built her life around providing for her teenage girls, 17-year-old Gretchen and 14-year-old Emily. Each weekday, she made the 30-mile commute into Houston, where she worked as a certified Customer Service Representative at the Don Brelsford Insurance Agency. Friends and neighbors remembered her as someone who was always rushing, trying to beat the notorious Houston traffic to get home for a volleyball game or a Girl Scouts event. She was a mother who laughed hard, worked harder, and moved mountains to make sure her daughters felt supported and loved.
Her disciplined routine was a necessity.
The insurance agency where she worked didn't open its doors to employees before 8 a.m., and without a key, Suzanne had to find a safe place to wait out the gap between her early commute and the start of her workday. Her regular spot was the bustling parking lot of the Rice Epicurean Market at 2600 W. Alabama, a high-end grocery store in a shopping hub bordering the affluent River Oaks neighborhood. On the morning of Friday, November 13, 1992, she pulled her 1988 Ford Taurus into the lot after buying breakfast at a nearby Burger King. As she sat in her car eating, just before 7:30 a.m., the peace of her morning ritual was shattered.
An unknown woman approached the driver's side window. Police later theorized the assailant may have used a pretext, like asking for directions, to get close. The demand came quickly: she wanted Suzanne’s purse. In the moments that followed, a.22-caliber gunshot rang out in the morning air. The bullet tore through Suzanne’s arm and chest. Her mortally wounded body still behind the wheel, the car rolled forward, crashing into a nearby bus shelter.
Witnesses, drawn by the sound of the crash, rushed to help. Before she lost consciousness, Suzanne was able to give them one vital clue, stating that a Black female had shot her. Her purse was gone from the car. Paramedics arrived and transported her to Ben Taub Hospital, but the injury was too severe. Suzanne Hummel was pronounced deceased during surgery. The brazen murder in a busy, upscale parking lot in broad daylight left investigators with few immediate leads.
The Houston Police Department (HPD) took charge of the investigation. Witnesses described the suspect as a Black female and noted the possibility of a white getaway car waiting nearby, though details were scarce. Detectives were left with a scattered purse, a single gunshot, and the victim's dying declaration. Despite the high-traffic area, the assailant seemed to vanish into the morning commute, leaving a stunned community and a grieving family in her wake.
For more than three decades, the question of who killed Suzanne Hummel and why has remained unanswered. The case, HPD Incident #1218632-92, is now considered a cold case. As of December 2025, media reports confirmed the investigation remains open, a painful and unresolved chapter for her daughters, who grew up without the mother who had worked so tirelessly for them. Police believe that even after all these years, someone saw something that morning that could finally provide a crucial break in the case.
The Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division Cold Case Unit continues to seek information about the murder of Suzanne Marie Hummel. Anyone with information is urged to contact the unit at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
