A groundbreaking 2024 investigation by The Marshall Project, St. Louis Public Radio, and APM Reports showed that over 1,000 murders in the last decade in St. Louis remain unsolved. Building on this reporting, Remember Me honors the lives of those who have died, and looks at the impact on the thousands of friends and family members who have had to move on with their lives without a sense of justice and closure.
“This series is not just about remembrance. It is also about what comes next,” said Raghuram Vadarevu, senior editor of storytelling at The Marshall Project. “Through public art and intentional conversations, we’re striving to create space to think big and reimagine public safety, support and justice.”
The project is anchored by a public art installation, opening August 11th, which features six original portraits by local artist Cbabi Bayoc. Bayoc’s vivid illustrations depict each person as their families remember them: full of life and love. Bayoc, a St. Louis-based visual artist, created the portraits to help restore a sense of wholeness to the affected families and larger community. The portraits will be displayed in multiple venues across the St. Louis region; an accompanying QR code will take viewers to a site where they can listen to audio vignettes of a loved one talking about the person who passed away and view online memorials.
St. Louis Public Radio and The Marshall Project have also produced extensive resources for affected families in St. Louis and nationwide. One resource includes tips for dealing with grief, crowdsourced directly from families who have lost loved ones. This tipsheet includes grief support organizations around St. Louis that come highly recommended. Another set of resources highlights the importance of community engagement in homicide investigations and outlines what families need to know when working with police and what police need to know when working with the community. This “explainer” walks readers through the basics of a homicide investigation.
These resources will be shared via both media outlets' websites; postcards with a QR code shared at events starting in August; and through partnerships with community organizations to get the important materials in front of the families that need them most.
“Remember Me honors and uplifts the lives of our community members whose lives have been senselessly taken,” said Brian Munoz, St. Louis Public Radio’s Visuals Editor. “Our hope is that this project fosters meaningful, solutions-driven dialogue that centers the voices of those most impacted and helps us build deeper empathy with our neighbors.”
How to get involved:
To be involved in the project and support families, STLPR invites the community to:
- Share a memory, photograph, or piece of advice at our October community conversations.
- Support the work by attending the exhibit, spreading, the word or donating to sustain future storytelling projects.
Unsolved: Remember Me is produced by St. Louis Public Radio and The Marshall Project in collaboration with Cbabi Bayoc, community partners, and the families of the victims.
Remember Me Events:
All events will be held at The Curiosity Building, 3033 Locust Street St. Louis, MO 63103. The exhibition and events are free and open to the public. An RSVP to live events, using this link, is encouraged but not required. Please RSVP to receive information about this series and future events. Additional events after August will be announced at a later date.
Remember Me Exhibition
Monday, Aug. 11-Friday, Sept. 12
Bayoc’s portraits will be on view in the Curiosity Building from Monday, Aug. 11 until Friday, Sept. 12 ; viewing is by request via email, vanessa@stl.org.
Live Exhibition Events
To further explore Bayoc’s work and the impacts of unsolved homicides in the St. Louis area, a series of live events and conversations will be held starting in August, exploring topics like art as resistance, community grief, and collective healing.
Unsolved: One Year Later
Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025 | 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
The Curiosity Building | 3303 Locust Street
In this conversation, we’ll hear from St. Louis Public Radio’s Justice Correspondent Rachel Lippman; The Marshall Project - St. Louis’ Engagement Reporter Ivy Scott; and the surviving family of a local homicide victim about the state of unsolved homicide investigations now, and where we need to go from here.
Bright & Early Artist Talk with Cbabi Bayoc: An Unexpected Journey
Friday, Aug. 15, 2025 | 7:30 - 8:30 a.m.
The Curiosity Building | 3303 Locust Street
In his talk, Bayoc will explore his creative path and his new work on view, Remember Me, a series of poignant portraits for St. Louis Public Radio and The Marshall Project.
To learn more about St. Louis’ unsolved murders, read St. Louis Public Radio, The Marshall Project, and APM Reports’ original reporting, Why 1,000 Homicides in St. Louis Remain Unsolved.
All resources, tributes and reporting, for Remember Me will be available at:
STLPR stlpr.org/remember-me
The Marshall Project themarshallproject.org/remember-me
About the artist:
Cbabi Bayoc is an internationally recognized visual artist, muralist, and New York Times Best-Selling illustrator of “Good Night Racism.” Based in St. Louis, Mo., Bayoc uses artwork as a means of dismantling stereotypes that showcase the humanity and dopeness of Black people. His subjects include family, children, music, fashion, and more; each designed with line, bold color and his signature “pHunQ.” His works, in media from acrylics to stained glass, adorn schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, non-profit organizations, churches, and businesses around the world. In addition, he has had the honor of contributing to the work of Prince, Dr. Nikole Hannah Jones (the 1619 Project), Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Chris Lighty and notable companies including Hydro Flask, The Gateway Arch Park Foundation, Target, Coca-Cola, The Smithsonian Institution, New Line Cinema, and World Wide Technology.