The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Division took over the investigation into Jhené Audrict’s death on Oct. 27, after medical examiner officials found injuries “that could be inconsistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the department said. Audrict was a 21-year-old transgender woman who died in August in the city’s Carondelet neighborhood.
“The Medical Examiner’s Office took over the investigation on August 18 as an apparent suicide,” the department’s statement says. Her mother, Melissa Crawford, had questioned how Jhené died in an interview published the night before by First Alert 4.
“Jhené was legally blind. Unfortunately, when they did find Jhené, Jhené’s glasses were not located on her face,” Crawford told the station. Police haven’t named a suspect or announced an arrest.
“She is a transgender, 21-year-old woman. I am proud to be her mother,” Crawford said.
Jhené Audrict’s Death Was First Handled as an Apparent Suicide
Officers got a call on Aug. 17 about a missing 21-year-old woman from the 6100 block of Minnesota Avenue, according to the police statement. “The woman, identified as Jhené Audrict, was later found on August 18 in a yard in the 6100 block of Minnesota,” it says.
Police said she’d been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene, which First Alert 4 placed at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Bowen Street. “A city worker found Jhené in between this abandoned house and also this abandoned church,” Crawford told First Alert 4.
Crawford said she last talked with her daughter on Aug. 15, when Jhené was on her way to her boyfriend’s house, and that he called the next morning to say Jhené was missing. Medical examiner officials spotted the injuries during a later autopsy and “requested the Homicide Division assume the death investigation,” the department said.
The department’s Oct. 27 statement, headlined “Homicide Investigating Suspicious Death in Carondelet,” doesn’t say the death has been ruled a homicide. Fox 2 reported the same day that police had launched a suspicious death investigation.
Melissa Crawford Says Jhené Couldn’t See Without Her Glasses
“Jhené cannot see without her glasses,” Crawford said. She told the station she doesn’t want her daughter’s story to end with her death.
“She was very adventurous, a traveler, highly educated,” Crawford said.
Jhené was in college and had lived in Hawaii for a year and a half, First Alert 4 reported.
“The resolution for me is to get justice for Jhené. Also, to advocate for the trans community,” she said. She named domestic violence awareness and mental health as causes she plans to take up, too.
Transgender Day of Remembrance Is Nov. 20
The day was “started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith” as “a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998,” according to GLAAD. Audrict’s name was added on Oct. 28 to Remembering Our Dead, an online memorial list Gayety drew on for last year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance coverage.
“Every person deserves to feel safe, to be treated with dignity, and to live their truth without fear,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said when HRC released its most recent annual report on fatal violence against trans people, on Nov. 20, 2025.
That report recorded 27 transgender and gender-nonconforming people killed over the previous year and at least 399 since 2013, with HRC noting that many deaths go unreported or misreported. “Our transgender and gender nonconforming siblings deserve to live safe, fulfilling, joyful lives, just like every other member of our society,” said Tori Cooper, HRC’s director of strategic outreach and training.
Marsha P. Johnson’s 1992 death was first ruled a suicide, which plenty of her friends rejected, and was changed to undetermined that December, Gayety’s profile of the Stonewall veteran notes.
How to Reach the St. Louis Homicide Division With a Tip
The department wants “anyone with information about the incident” to call the Homicide Division directly at 314-444-5371. People who’d rather stay anonymous can call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (8477).
“Only tips submitted to CrimeStoppers that lead to a felony arrest are eligible for CrimeStoppers’ rewards,” the statement says. Police have said more information will be released, First Alert 4 reported, but the department’s website showed no update on the case as of Friday morning.
“I will not rest. And I will not let this be swept underneath the rug. Jhené Cordelia Audrict will get justice,” Crawford said.
*The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline takes calls and texts at 988, and Trans Lifeline‘s peer support line is (877) 565-8860.*
