Andrew Hanks

For more than half a century, the violent death of Andrew Hanks has remained a painful, unanswered question for his community. Andrew, a 59-year-old white male, was a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, during the summer of 1973. Details of his personal life, his work, and the family that mourned him have faded with the passing decades, but the stark facts of his final day are preserved in official records, a testament to a life cut short by an unknown assailant. His case is a quiet but persistent reminder of the justice that has yet to be served.

The tragic event unfolded on Friday, June 8, 1973, in the city's Avondale neighborhood. The location was 3509 Reading Road, a major thoroughfare that runs north-south through Cincinnati. What began as an ordinary day for Andrew ended in a burst of violence when he was shot by an unidentified person. The specific circumstances leading up to the shooting—what Andrew was doing at that address, whether he knew his attacker, or what the motive might have been—are questions that have never been answered.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Reading Road, but Andrew’s injuries were too severe. He succumbed to the gunshot wounds that same day, his death immediately becoming a homicide investigation for the Cincinnati Police Department. Detectives in 1973 would have canvassed the area, interviewed potential witnesses, and collected what evidence they could from the scene. Despite their efforts, the investigation did not lead to an arrest. The trail eventually went cold, leaving the case file to gather dust.

Over the years, the case, designated as #716, has remained open but inactive. Decades after the original detectives moved on or retired, Andrew Hanks's file was passed to a new generation of investigators. It is now listed among the state's unsolved homicides, a collection of cases maintained by the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation. This public listing serves a dual purpose: to honor the memory of the victims and to solicit new information from the public that might finally provide a breakthrough.

The hope is that someone, somewhere, still holds a piece of the puzzle. It could be a person who was in the Avondale area that day and saw something they didn't realize was important, or perhaps someone who later heard a story or a confession. With the passage of so much time, relationships change and allegiances fade, sometimes making it easier for individuals to come forward with long-held secrets.

As of today, the murder of Andrew Hanks is one of Cincinnati's oldest cold cases. The investigation is officially in the hands of the Cincinnati Police Department, with support from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. No suspects or persons of interest have ever been publicly named. The fundamental questions of who shot Andrew Hanks and why remain unanswered. Authorities continue to ask anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to contact them. A single tip could be the key to closing a case that has remained unsolved for over fifty years and finally bringing a measure of peace to the memory of Andrew Hanks. Anyone with information is encouraged to submit a tip to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.