Just after 3:30 a.m. on June 4, 2023, gunfire cut through the quiet of East St. Louis, drawing officers to the 900 block of St. Louis Avenue, where three people had been shot.
Among them was Dotanisha “NeNe” Funches, a 26-year-old Black female from East St. Louis, who was rushed to Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights and pronounced dead at 3:43 a.m., according to the St. Clair county coroner.
Police Chief Kendall Perry said detectives were in the early stages of the investigation that morning and had not established a motive.
He asked anyone with information to contact East St. Louis police or CrimeStoppers, a plea that underscored how swiftly the scene had turned from a late-night city block into a homicide investigation.
In the hours that followed, the city's brief official summaries fixed the place and time, while public memorials began to carry the name that family and friends used: Dotanisha “NeNe” Funches, a 26-year-old female.
Online remembrances recorded her death on June 4, 2023, in East St. Louis, a simple line that belies the chaos of that early morning and the unanswered questions that remained.
Two other victims were reported wounded in the same burst of violence, but their identities and conditions were not immediately released as detectives canvassed for witnesses and evidence.
Authorities did not announce any arrests or name any suspects in the initial reports, and no public follow-up has indicated that a suspect was taken into custody in the case.
As of today's date the question remains, who shot and killed Ms. Dontanisha 'NeNe' Funches? And will they ever be brought to justice?
