ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Metropolitan Police need your help in solving the murder of a mom and her 2-year-old son. A crime, police described, as "heinous."
Trina'ty Riley and her son, Kayden Johnson, were shot and killed inside their North St. Louis home in 2019.
Anthony Caruso, St. Louis Police Homicide Sergeant said now is the time for anyone who knows anything about the crime to come forward.
"It's absolutely tragic that this occurred. Two lives that were ended way too early, but specifically, we need to make sure that the message gets out there that this is not going to be tolerated in the city. It's absolutely ridiculous," he said.
It's a case that weighs heavily on Sgt. Caruso.
"There's nothing that 2-year-old kid could have possibly done to have warranted any of this. That's not normal anywhere in the city at any time. It is a violent area in the city, but that's way out of line for what most of us see," he said.
Caruso's team is digging back into a brutal double murder from half a decade ago.
Riley and Johnson were inside their home at 5911 Ferris Ave. when they heard a loud vehicle pull up outside of their home around 11:45 p.m. on April 30, 2019.
"They're seated in the living room on a couch. They hear a vehicle pull up in front of the house, and moments later, the door is open," he said.
As soon as Riley yelled, "Who's there?" three masked suspects busted through the door and gunshots followed. According to Caruso, the 18-year-old grabbed her son and ran to the back of the house.
"When they were located, she was actually clenching him to her chest, so I can't imagine that anybody would have anything against a 2-year-old child. It's just disgusting to think about," he said.
Caruso said police believe Riley was the intended target because a male friend of hers was inside the home at the same time, ran to a different bedroom than Riley, and wasn't harmed.
"He was actually behind her when they were running from the gunfire, so I don't see a way that they didn't see him as well, and they never went looking for him," he said.
All three suspects, according to Caruso, were armed with rifles.
"It's risky to do something like that. You don't know who's on the inside of that house, what weapons they may have, or what resistance you're going to be met with on the way in," he said.
A risky crime, that five years later, has more questions than answers especially because, Caruso said, the main witness is now dead.
"We would love to have been able to interview him. He has since passed, so that's no longer an option for us. That would have been a key piece of this puzzle, which makes it even more difficult," he said.
On top of the time that has passed since the crime, Caruso added, Riley's family has been tough to reach.
"We want to get the family back on board. We want to talk to them and figure out if there's anything else that's come up. A lot of times family is your best resource in these types of cases. They know what their folks are into, they know who they're at it with, if anything like that's coming up," he said.
Caurso said his team is meeting with the original investigator to go over everything.
"We're putting a fresh set of eyes on it to make sure we didn't miss anything," he said.
According to investigators, there are a few cell phones relative to this case that they can go back and look at. Even though no weapons were recovered at the scene, Caruso said, police do have the shell casings that were left in the house.
"That's something else that the lead detective is going through right now. We need to track and see if those come back to any other incidents. Sometimes that can be a challenge, as well, because guns change hands very quickly out on the street, but if something happened within a few days or even a few weeks of the incident, it gives us a starting point of someone we need to talk to," he said.
All of these reasons, and more, is why Caruso said police are pleading for the public to step up.
"Somebody out there has been sitting on this information for five years, and we're just really hoping at this point that whoever that person or persons are, that they're ready to come forward and do the right thing," he said.
For anyone nervous to come forward, this is Caruso's message.
"I completely understand that there's a certain code out on the street that you don't talk. We may even be in a situation right now where the individual is incarcerated, or the individual may have passed away themselves at this point, but the family deserves closure, and that's really what they need right now," he said.
According to Caruso, the suspects were in a dark colored Chevy Malibu with a temporary tag. If you have any information about the case, you're asked to call the St. Louis Police Department's Homicide Office at 314-444-5371. You can also remain anonymous by calling CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.