Reporting and analysis may discuss allegations and online theories. Allegations are not findings of guilt. Verify important details in the cited public record.
The Killings Behind the Wanted Board
Twelve unrelated homicide investigations. One public appeal. Seven arrests, one surrender, and four suspects still publicly listed as wanted.
On December 11, 2023, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, Philadelphia Police Department, and Sheriff’s Office placed 12 homicide suspects before the public. The killings stretched from August 2019 through October 2023 and involved shootings, a stabbing, a fatal beating, an attempted carjacking, surveillance footage, missing weapons, surviving victims, and multiple investigations in which the most important evidence was never explained outside police and court files.
The suspects were not accused of belonging to one organization, participating in one conspiracy, or carrying out a connected wave of killings. Their cases were grouped together because each man was wanted in a separate homicide investigation centered largely in South, Southwest, or West Philadelphia. Treating them as one gang case would create a connection the official record does not support.
The board has changed since the original announcement. Gary Yeiser, Gustavo Casalez, Jermaine Powell, Nathaniel Thomas, Donald Whitingham, Malik K. Williams, and Anthony Young are now marked arrested on Philadelphia’s public fugitive pages. Andre Goff surrendered two days after the press conference. Jacque Houston, Basir Gillette, Seifuddin Sabir, and Kyle Smith remain displayed among active fugitives.
An arrest is not a conviction. A wanted notice is an allegation supported by a warrant, not a verdict. Unless a court result is specifically stated, every accused person remains entitled to contest the evidence. The clearest completed prosecution in this group concerns Sean Williams, the arrested co-defendant in Phillip Wise’s homicide. Williams pleaded guilty, received a 30-to-60-year sentence, and later lost his sentencing appeal.
1. Micheal Lamar Houston — Eight Casings Inside a Family Home
March 9, 2023 | 1500 block of South Dover Street, Grays Ferry | Accused: Jacque Houston | Public status: Still wanted
Philadelphia police were called to a home on South Dover Street after gunfire erupted during the evening of March 9, 2023. Inside, officers found 38-year-old Micheal Lamar Houston suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to a hospital and died shortly afterward. The family dog had also been shot and killed.
Investigators attributed the shooting to an argument and identified Micheal’s oldest son, Jacque Houston, as the suspected gunman. The District Attorney’s original announcement described Micheal as Jacque’s stepfather, while Micheal’s mother and later family reporting referred to him as Jacque’s father. The available public record does not explain whether that difference reflects a biological, legal, or family relationship. What remains consistent is that the two men were close before the homicide. Micheal’s mother, April Johnson, said her son helped Jacque find work and described them as nearly inseparable.
Police recovered eight fired 9mm cartridge casings but no crime gun. Those casings could preserve microscopic markings capable of identifying the firearm if it were later recovered or connected to another scene. The public summaries do not reveal whether all eight casings came from one weapon, whether any projectile was recovered from Micheal, or whether ballistic databases produced an association with another investigation.
The killing of the dog adds another unexplained part of the sequence. Public reports confirm the animal was shot, but they do not say whether the dog was deliberately targeted, struck during the shots fired at Micheal, or wounded at another point in the confrontation. The public file also contains no disclosed surveillance footage, witness account, admission, phone evidence, or forensic link explaining how detectives identified Jacque beyond the allegation that a family argument preceded the gunfire.
Johnson later addressed her grandson publicly. She told him that she still loved him but believed he had to surrender and accept responsibility for taking her son’s life. A reward of up to $20,000 was offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Jacque Houston’s official fugitive page remains active. More than three years after Micheal and the family dog were killed, the published investigation still rests on a narrow set of visible facts: a confrontation inside a family home, multiple wounds, eight casings, no recovered gun, and a suspect whose own grandmother has asked him to turn himself in.
2. Larry Everett — A Fatal Beating Captured on Surveillance
August 27–28, 2023 | 2100 block of Dickinson Street, Point Breeze | Accused: Gary Yeiser | Public status: Arrested
An argument on Dickinson Street escalated into a violent assault during the afternoon of August 27, 2023. Prosecutors accused Gary Yeiser of bludgeoning 68-year-old Larry Everett. Everett survived the initial attack but died from his injuries the following day.
The incident was reportedly captured on surveillance. That makes the case different from several others on the board, where detectives were left with shell casings, injured victims, or the aftermath of an unseen confrontation. Depending on the recording’s angle and length, the footage could establish how the dispute began, whether Everett attempted to leave, what Yeiser allegedly used, how long the assault continued, and what happened immediately afterward. None of those individual movements were described in the District Attorney’s public release.
Surveillance footage can document an attack without resolving every legal issue. A camera may not capture the words exchanged before the assault, activity outside its frame, or the clarity needed for an uncontested identification. Because Everett died the following day, medical testimony would also be necessary to connect the injuries documented on video to his death and rule out unrelated causes.
Prosecutors approved a third-degree murder charge. That charge generally alleges a killing committed with malice but without the specific intent required for first-degree murder. The public record does not disclose why prosecutors selected that degree, whether an alleged weapon was recovered, what the autopsy found, or whether witnesses supplied additional statements.
Yeiser’s official fugitive page is now stamped arrested. The page does not provide the date or circumstances of his capture, and the sources reviewed for this file did not establish a plea, trial verdict, dismissal, or sentence. His movement from fugitive to prisoner closes the search but not the public account of what happened after the arrest.
The strongest known evidence remains the recording itself. The public knows that a fatal confrontation was captured, but not what the camera showed frame by frame or how prosecutors intend to use it in court.
3. Elidio Rosales — The Knife That Was Never Found
February 3, 2022 | 6400 block of Dorel Street, Elmwood Park | Accused: Gustavo Casalez | Public status: Arrested
Thirty-two-year-old Elidio Rosales was stabbed in the abdomen during an argument on Dorel Street on the evening of February 3, 2022. Investigators identified Gustavo Casalez as the suspected attacker. Prosecutors approved murder and possessing-an-instrument-of-crime charges on June 7, 2022.
The knife was not recovered. Without the weapon, investigators lost the opportunity to test it for blood, tissue, fingerprints, touch DNA, or another person’s biological material. The blade’s size and shape also could not be directly compared with the wound track documented during the autopsy.
A missing knife does not prevent a homicide prosecution. A case can be built through eyewitness testimony, surveillance footage, medical findings, statements, digital evidence, or evidence showing the accused’s movements before and after the stabbing. The problem is not that no other evidence could exist. The problem is that the public release did not identify any of it.
The official account gives no explanation for the argument, no indication of whether Rosales and Casalez knew each other, and no description of who saw the confrontation. It does not say whether blood was found on Casalez’s clothing, whether he sought treatment for an injury, whether he made statements to anyone, or whether nearby cameras recorded the block.
Casalez’s fugitive page is now marked arrested. No arrest date or final court result appears on that page, and the accessible sources reviewed for this file did not establish whether the murder charge ended in a conviction, plea agreement, acquittal, dismissal, or unresolved prosecution.
The knife remains the most obvious missing object, but the deeper public-record gap is larger. The public was told who prosecutors accused without being shown what evidence carried the case from an argument on Dorel Street to an approved murder warrant.
4. Quamir Mitchell — Two Teenagers Shot Near a Playground
May 13, 2021 | Grays Avenue and South Ithan Street area, Kingsessing | Accused: Basir Gillette | Public status: Still wanted
At approximately 7:29 p.m. on May 13, 2021, Philadelphia police responded to the 5600 block of Grays Avenue and found 16-year-old Quamir Mitchell suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he died that evening. His 13-year-old cousin had been shot in the arm and survived.
The shooting happened near DeRitis Playground, around 57th Street and Grays Avenue. Quamir was a senior at West Philadelphia High School, a standout basketball player, and only weeks away from graduation. Coaches and people who knew him described a student who was respected by younger players and expected to continue building a future beyond high school.
The December 2023 fugitive announcement placed the shooting on the 2300 block of South Ithan Street, while police and earlier reporting centered the scene on the 5600 block of Grays Avenue. Those locations describe the same playground area, but the official releases do not explain why the address changed between announcements.
Investigators accused Basir Gillette of firing the shots during an argument. A later case summary referenced a city video describing the dispute as connected to a basketball game, although the District Attorney’s formal release used only the broader term “argument.” No crime gun or usable ballistic evidence was reported recovered.
That absence creates a major evidentiary question. A scene without a recovered firearm or disclosed casings offers no public ballistic signature linking the shooting to another gun. The surviving 13-year-old could have provided crucial information, but no statement from him has been released. The public record also does not identify surveillance footage, phone evidence, admissions, or a witness who directly named Gillette.
Initial reporting produced another unresolved problem. Witnesses identified a man, and police took that person into custody shortly after the shooting. News coverage stated that it was unclear whether the detained man was the shooter. Gillette was later named as the wanted suspect and remains listed as a fugitive. No public record explains who was taken into custody that night, why that person was released, or how the investigation later focused on Gillette.
Gillette’s official fugitive page remains active. The homicide therefore contains a surviving young victim, an unexplained early detention, no publicly identified firearm evidence, and an accused gunman who has remained outside the court process for years.
5. Theo James IV — The Accused Role Changed After the Surrender
September 23, 2023 | 5200 block of Chester Avenue, Kingsessing | Accused participant: Andre Goff | Public status: Surrendered
Twenty-five-year-old Theo James IV was shot during the early morning hours of September 23, 2023, on Chester Avenue. Prosecutors initially described Andre Goff as the man wanted for fatally shooting him. No crime gun was recovered, investigators had not announced a motive, and approved charges included murder, conspiracy, illegal firearm possession, and related offenses.
Two days after his face appeared during the December 2023 fugitive announcement, Goff surrendered. The District Attorney’s Office then clarified that investigators did not believe he was the person who pulled the trigger. He remained accused of involvement in the homicide, but his alleged role had changed publicly from shooter to participant or conspirator.
That correction is not a small wording issue. The original announcement told the public that Goff fatally shot James. The later statement said the suspected trigger man was someone else. The murder charge could still rest on an allegation that Goff assisted, planned, encouraged, or participated in the crime, but none of those specific actions was described publicly.
No released account explains whether Goff arranged a meeting, carried a weapon, transported anyone, acted as a lookout, helped the shooter escape, or became involved after the gunfire. Assigning any one of those actions to him would go beyond the record. The public case establishes only that prosecutors accused him of participation and conspiracy while later denying that he was the gunman.
James had survived another major act of violence less than three months earlier. During the July 2023 Kingsessing mass shooting, he helped move injured people and get victims to safety. That history became part of the public response to his death, but no official source has linked his assistance during the mass shooting to his later homicide. The two incidents belong to the same life story, not necessarily the same criminal investigation.
The identity and status of the alleged shooter were not established in the sources reviewed for this file. A final court outcome for Goff was also not located. His surrender ended one fugitive search while exposing a larger unanswered question: if prosecutors no longer believed he fired the fatal shots, who did?
6. Quintalon Minor — Two Guns, Dozens of Casings, and More Than One Accused Participant
May 13, 2023 | 5000 block of Haverford Avenue | Accused: Jermaine Powell | Public status: Arrested
At approximately 10:00 p.m. on May 13, 2023, Philadelphia police responded to the 5000 block of Haverford Avenue and found 45-year-old Quintalon Minor suffering from a gunshot wound. He was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and died. Philadelphia Police now classifies the homicide as solved.
Investigators recovered a Taurus 9mm handgun, a Glock 9mm handgun, and dozens of fired cartridge casings. Prosecutors accused Jermaine Powell of participating in the shooting and said a co-conspirator had already been arrested in September 2023. No motive was announced.
The amount of ballistic evidence makes this scene one of the most complex on the original wanted board. Two recovered guns could be test-fired and compared with the casings, bullets, and fragments collected from the street or during the autopsy. Examiners could determine whether one gun, both guns, or another unrecovered weapon produced the evidence.
The public announcement did not disclose the results. It did not say whether either recovered handgun fired the fatal shot, whether both guns had been discharged, how many shooters investigators believed were present, or who possessed each weapon. The phrase “co-conspirator” confirms an allegation involving another person, but the December release did not name that defendant or describe the alleged division of roles.
Dozens of casings can reconstruct direction, position, movement, and the number of firearms involved, but only when their locations and laboratory comparisons are known. None of that mapping was released. The public was told that the street held an unusually large evidence field without being shown how detectives interpreted it.
Powell’s fugitive page is now stamped arrested. The source does not provide his arrest date or final disposition.
The homicide has therefore moved from an open street scene filled with firearms evidence to a solved police classification, but the public still cannot see which gun fired which shots, how Powell was connected to the weapons, or what the alleged co-conspirator contributed to the attack.
7. Ryan Lavelle Moultrie — The Oldest Open Fugitive Case
August 11, 2019 | 3900 block of Ford Road | Accused: Seifuddin Sabir | Public status: Still wanted
Ryan Lavelle Moultrie was shot during the early morning hours of August 11, 2019, on the 3900 block of Ford Road. Witnesses told investigators that a verbal confrontation involving Ryan and a group of people ended in gunfire. He was 30 years old.
Investigators recovered seven fired 9mm cartridge casings but no handgun. Those casings preserved a potential ballistic signature, yet the public record does not say whether they were all fired from the same weapon or whether they were later connected to another shooting through a database search.
Seifuddin Sabir, also identified by the alias “Islam” on his fugitive page, was accused of the killing. The official summaries do not reveal how witnesses identified him, whether surveillance existed, whether he made statements after the shooting, or whether phone records placed him on Ford Road. The argument itself is described only in general terms. Nothing publicly establishes what started it or how many people were involved.
Ryan’s obituary provides the life erased by the scene summary. Born in September 1988, he was a twin, graduated from YouthBuild Charter School, attended All-State Career School, earned a Class A commercial driver’s license, and worked as a tractor-trailer driver. He was the father of five daughters. Family remembrances described him as hardworking, intelligent, funny, ambitious, and deeply connected to his relatives and friends.
Those details matter because the fugitive release reduced him to a 30-year-old man killed after an argument. The fuller record identifies someone who had completed training, built a profession, and was supporting a family before the confrontation on Ford Road.
Sabir’s official fugitive page remains active. The case is the oldest homicide represented among the four remaining wanted suspects.
More than six years after Ryan’s death, the public file still contains the same central pieces: witnesses who described an argument, seven casings, no gun, and an accused man who has not been brought into court.
8. Phillip Wise — The Robbery and Murder Recorded Outside Diamond Palace
September 22–23, 2021 | 56th Street and Osage Avenue | Accused shooter: Kyle Smith | Convicted co-defendant: Sean Williams | Smith’s public status: Still wanted
The killing of 46-year-old Phillip Wise is the most fully documented case on the board because a Pennsylvania Superior Court opinion reconstructs the events captured by surveillance cameras.
Police found Wise lying in the street near the 5600 block of Osage Avenue on the evening of September 22, 2021. He was critically wounded and transported to a hospital. He died the following day.
Detectives recovered footage from the Diamond Palace at 416 South 56th Street. The recording showed Wise arrive in the passenger seat of a blue vehicle, step onto the street, and speak with two men later identified in court as Sean Williams and Kyle Smith. Williams was Wise’s nephew.
The conversation became an assault. According to the court’s factual summary, Williams and Smith knocked Wise to the ground and searched his pockets while he was down. The two men then walked west on Osage Avenue, passed the Diamond Palace, and entered a stairwell leading toward a residence.
Wise managed to stand, crossed South 56th Street, and returned to the blue vehicle. For a brief period, the first attack appeared to have ended.
Williams and Smith then returned.
The opinion states that Smith opened the passenger door and struck Wise in the face with a handgun. Wise escaped from the vehicle and ran, but Williams chased him into the intersection. Both men allegedly continued punching him.
During that second assault, Smith allegedly pulled a firearm from his waistband and shot Wise once in the head.
The medical examiner determined that Wise died from a perforating gunshot wound to the head and classified the death as a homicide. No crime gun or publicly identified ballistic evidence was recovered. The prosecution’s reconstruction therefore rests heavily on the surveillance footage, the identification of the men shown, the robbery sequence, the medical findings, and Williams’s later guilty plea.
Sean Williams’s Guilty Plea
Williams was arrested in Florida in February 2022. On December 27, 2023, he entered an open guilty plea to third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, robbery inflicting serious bodily injury, and possessing an instrument of crime. An open plea left the sentence to the judge rather than guaranteeing a negotiated term.
On March 7, 2024, the court imposed 20 to 40 years for third-degree murder, 10 to 20 years for robbery, and 10 to 20 years for conspiracy. The robbery and conspiracy terms ran at the same time as one another but consecutively to the murder sentence. Williams received an aggregate term of 30 to 60 years.
Williams appealed, arguing that the sentence was excessive and that the shooting was an unexpected escalation committed by Smith. He pointed to his guilty plea, remorse, family support, mental-health history, childhood trauma, and substance-abuse issues. The Superior Court affirmed the sentence on April 9, 2025.
The appellate court found that the sentencing judge had considered the video, the brutality of the robbery and homicide, Williams’s personal history, the presentence investigation, and the mitigation offered on his behalf. The court refused to replace the trial judge’s assessment with a new weighing of those factors.
What Williams’s Conviction Does Not Decide
Williams’s guilty plea establishes his own criminal responsibility. It does not convict Smith.
The court opinion identifies Smith as the person who pistol-whipped Wise and fired the fatal shot, but Smith was not the defendant litigating that appeal. He has not had the opportunity in the records reviewed here to challenge the quality of the video, the process used to identify him, the interpretation of his movements, or the testimony that would be offered against him.
The missing firearm remains another gap. A recovered gun could have allowed prosecutors to compare test-fired bullets and casings with evidence from Wise’s body or the scene. Without it, the visual record and the surrounding circumstances carry more weight.
Smith’s official fugitive page remains active.
One side of the case has nearly reached its final legal page: a guilty plea, a 30-to-60-year sentence, and an unsuccessful appeal. The man identified in that same record as the alleged shooter remains outside the courtroom.
9. Tanrence Mathes — An Attempted Carjacking With a Missing Sequence
September 11, 2022 | 6100 block of Baltimore Avenue | Accused: Nathaniel Thomas | Public status: Arrested
Thirty-four-year-old Tanrence Mathes was shot in the abdomen on Baltimore Avenue during the evening of September 11, 2022. Prosecutors described the homicide as occurring during an attempted carjacking and accused Nathaniel Thomas of the killing.
The District Attorney’s Office approved charges including murder, robbery, carjacking, possessing an instrument of crime, and related firearm offenses. An earlier official release said no crime gun had been recovered.
The word “attempted” establishes that the vehicle was not successfully taken, but the public record does not explain why. It does not say whether Mathes was inside the vehicle, standing near it, attempting to drive away, resisting an armed demand, or intervening for someone else.
That missing sequence matters. A shot fired to obtain the vehicle, a shot fired during physical resistance, and a shot fired as an offender fled would create different reconstructions of the same charge. None can be selected responsibly from the information released.
The public summaries do not identify the make or model of the vehicle, surveillance footage, witnesses, fingerprints, DNA, cartridge casings, phone evidence, or statements attributed to Thomas. Prosecutors announced the crime they believed occurred and the person they accused without disclosing the evidence that connected the two.
Thomas’s official fugitive page is now marked arrested.
The capture resolved the search for the accused man. It did not fill the public gap at the center of the homicide: how the attempted carjacking began, what Mathes did during it, and why the confrontation ended with a fatal gunshot instead of a stolen vehicle.
10. Kahlief Myrick — The 4 A.M. Encounter Outside a 7-Eleven
February 18, 2021 | 2900 block of South 70th Street, Elmwood Park | Accused: Donald Whitingham | Public status: Arrested
At approximately 4:00 a.m. on February 18, 2021, 16-year-old Kahlief Myrick and his cousin walked to a 7-Eleven on South 70th Street to buy breakfast. Inside the store, Kahlief encountered Donald Whitingham, who was accompanied by a woman.
Family reporting said Whitingham asked Kahlief what he was looking at. Kahlief responded with the same question. According to his relatives, the exchange did not involve threats or a prolonged fight. Kahlief and his cousin completed their purchase and left the store.
Police alleged that Whitingham and the woman went outside, entered a vehicle, and remained nearby. When the teenagers emerged, Whitingham allegedly opened fire and struck Kahlief in the chest. Later reporting described him as waiting outside for the teenager.
No crime gun or ballistic evidence was reported recovered. That means the publicly described case does not contain a weapon, casing comparison, or firearm trace linking Whitingham to the fatal shot. The prosecution would therefore depend more heavily on the surviving cousin, the woman who accompanied Whitingham, surveillance footage, vehicle evidence, and the process through which detectives identified the accused man.
Police released surveillance video during the search. The available reports do not make clear whether the released footage showed the shooting itself, only the encounter inside the store, the vehicle outside, or the movements before and after the gunfire. It should not be described as a complete recording of the murder without that confirmation.
Kahlief’s family remembered him as artistic, interested in music and clothing design, and involved in football. The public wanted poster turned him into a victim’s age and wound. Family accounts described a teenager with creative plans who had gone to a store for breakfast.
Whitingham remained missing for more than three years. Authorities arrested him in Sacramento, California, in June 2024 and extradited him to Philadelphia the following month to face murder and firearm charges.
His fugitive page is now marked arrested and lists several aliases. The sources reviewed for this file did not establish a final plea, verdict, dismissal, or sentence.
The search crossed the country. The killing began with a brief exchange inside a convenience store.
11. Nakir Sylvester — One Shot in Broad Daylight
June 17, 2022 | 600 block of Brooklyn Street, West Powelton | Accused: Malik K. Williams | Public status: Arrested
At 1:12 p.m. on June 17, 2022, Philadelphia police responded to the 600 block of Brooklyn Street and found 19-year-old Nakir Sylvester suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and died that afternoon.
Prosecutors alleged that the shooting followed an argument and identified Malik K. Williams as the suspected gunman. Nakir had been shot once in the chest in broad daylight. Investigators recovered one fired .40-caliber cartridge casing.
A single casing can carry microscopic marks made by a firearm’s firing pin, breech face, extractor, and ejector. If the weapon is later recovered, those marks can be compared with a test-fired casing. The evidence can also be entered into a ballistic database to search for possible links to other scenes.
No such comparison was announced publicly. The record does not identify a recovered gun, surveillance footage, eyewitness statement, digital evidence, or admission. It also does not explain what caused the argument, whether Nakir and Williams knew each other, or how detectives identified Williams.
The fugitive search continued for approximately three years. On June 20, 2025, members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested Williams in Atlanta. Authorities said he would be returned to Philadelphia to face murder and weapons charges.
Williams’s official fugitive entry is now stamped arrested. The accessible sources reviewed for this file did not establish a final adjudication.
The homicide scene produced one wound and one casing. The search ended hundreds of miles away, but the public evidence connecting Williams to that single shot has never been laid out in detail.
12. Terrell Lubin — The Coworker Argument and the Empty Standoff
October 17, 2023 | 500 block of North 57th Street, Carroll Park | Accused: Anthony Young | Public status: Arrested
At 11:46 a.m. on October 17, 2023, Philadelphia police responded to North 57th Street and found 36-year-old Terrell Lubin lying in the street with a gunshot wound. Officers placed him in a police vehicle and rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died.
Family members said Lubin and the suspected shooter were coworkers. According to his relatives, an argument began while the two men were working. Lubin disengaged and walked away before he was shot once in the chest.
Investigators recovered a Ruger .357-caliber handgun and one fired cartridge casing. Those items could provide a direct forensic comparison if the casing or fatal projectile carried markings consistent with the recovered weapon. The public announcement did not say that testing conclusively identified the Ruger as the murder weapon. It also did not explain where the gun was found, who had possessed it, or whether DNA or fingerprints were recovered.
The Standoff at the Wrong Location
After the shooting, police believed the gunman had entered a house on the 100 block of North Ruby Street. Officers received information that he did not intend to return to prison alive, prompting a barricade response.
Police surrounded the residence for approximately two hours. When officers entered, the suspect was not inside.
The public record does not explain who directed police toward that house, whether the gunman had been seen entering it, or whether he escaped before the perimeter was established. The standoff became an extended tactical response centered on an empty residence.
The 19-Year Age Discrepancy
Early reporting described the suspected shooter as a 72-year-old coworker. Less than two months later, the District Attorney identified 53-year-old Anthony Young as the wanted suspect. No official explanation for the 19-year difference was located.
The early age could have come from preliminary witness information, an incorrect identity, or a reporting error. None of those possibilities has been confirmed. The discrepancy should therefore remain part of the public record rather than being silently corrected.
Young’s fugitive page is now marked arrested. The sources reviewed did not establish a final court outcome.
The homicide contains several separate layers: an argument between coworkers, a victim reportedly shot after walking away, a recovered handgun, a two-hour standoff at an empty house, and an age description that changed by nearly two decades.
What the Evidence Across the 12 Cases Reveals
The District Attorney’s public appeal placed the suspects together, but the evidence did not follow one pattern. Some investigations were built around cameras. Others depended on shell casings, surviving witnesses, missing weapons, or allegations that remain largely unexplained outside the homicide files.
Cases Without a Recovered Crime Gun
The public releases reported no recovered gun in the homicides of Micheal Lamar Houston, Quamir Mitchell, Theo James IV, Ryan Lavelle Moultrie, Phillip Wise, Kahlief Myrick, and Tanrence Mathes. The knife used against Elidio Rosales was also missing.
A missing weapon removes several possible forms of proof. Investigators cannot test it for DNA or fingerprints, trace its commercial history, compare test-fired evidence with the crime scene, or directly establish who possessed it when recovered.
That does not make prosecution impossible. Surveillance, witness identification, admissions, phone records, medical findings, accomplice testimony, and evidence of flight can establish a homicide without the weapon. The strength of each case depends on what replaced the missing firearm or knife.
Casings Without a Gun
Micheal Houston’s scene produced eight 9mm casings. Ryan Moultrie’s produced seven. Nakir Sylvester’s produced one .40-caliber casing. Those pieces can preserve a firearm’s identifying signature long after the gun disappears.
The public record does not reveal whether any of those casings were linked to other scenes or later recovered weapons. No connection among the homicides should be inferred merely because each scene contained ballistic evidence.
Recovered Firearms
Quintalon Minor’s homicide produced two 9mm handguns and dozens of casings. Terrell Lubin’s scene produced a Ruger .357-caliber handgun and one fired casing. Those recoveries gave investigators material for test-firing, firearm tracing, DNA examination, and fingerprint processing.
Neither public announcement disclosed a conclusive firearm match. Recovery establishes that a gun became evidence. It does not automatically establish that the gun fired the fatal shot or identify who used it.
Surveillance-Centered Cases
Larry Everett’s assault was reportedly captured on camera. Police released footage during the search for Donald Whitingham. Phillip Wise’s murder and the events preceding it were reconstructed in detail through surveillance from the Diamond Palace.
The Wise case shows what becomes possible when the video enters the court record. Instead of a short wanted notice, the public can follow the robbery, two separate assaults, movement through a stairwell, the return to the vehicle, the chase, and the fatal shot.
The Everett and Myrick investigations may contain evidence of similar importance. Their public files do not reveal the same level of detail.
Contradictions and Corrections in the Public Record
The original wanted board was presented as a clear list of names and allegations. A closer review reveals several places where the record changed or conflicted with earlier reporting.
Micheal Houston’s relationship to Jacque Houston: The District Attorney called Micheal the accused man’s stepfather. Micheal’s mother called Jacque his son and described the two as inseparable. No public source reconciled the wording.
Quamir Mitchell’s early detention report: Police took a man into custody after witnesses identified him on the night of the shooting. Reporting made clear that officers had not established whether he was the gunman. Basir Gillette was later named as the suspect and remains wanted. The fate of the first detained man has not been explained publicly.
Andre Goff’s alleged role: The original announcement described Goff as the person who fatally shot Theo James IV. After he surrendered, the District Attorney said investigators did not believe he pulled the trigger. Goff remained accused of involvement, but the central public description changed.
Anthony Young’s age: Early reports described Terrell Lubin’s suspected killer as 72. The District Attorney later named 53-year-old Anthony Young. The public record offers no explanation for the difference.
Kyle Smith’s legal status: Sean Williams’s guilty plea and sentence provide a detailed court record identifying Smith as the alleged shooter. That judgment does not convict Smith. Unless he is arrested and prosecuted, the evidence against him has not been tested through his own case.
The Four Suspects Still Listed as Wanted
Jacque Houston is accused of killing Micheal Lamar Houston and the family dog inside a Grays Ferry home after an argument. Investigators recovered eight 9mm casings but no gun. His grandmother has publicly asked him to surrender.
Basir Gillette is accused of killing 16-year-old Quamir Mitchell and wounding Quamir’s 13-year-old cousin near a Southwest Philadelphia playground. No gun or ballistic evidence was reported recovered, and the first man detained after the shooting was never publicly explained.
Seifuddin Sabir is accused of killing Ryan Lavelle Moultrie after an argument on Ford Road in August 2019. Seven casings were found, but the handgun was not. His case is the oldest of the four active fugitive investigations.
Kyle Smith is accused of pistol-whipping and fatally shooting Phillip Wise during a robbery captured on surveillance. His alleged co-defendant, Sean Williams, pleaded guilty and is serving 30 to 60 years. Smith remains separately accused and publicly listed as wanted.
Public Safety Notice
Philadelphia’s fugitive site warns that wanted suspects should be considered armed and dangerous. Members of the public should not confront or attempt to apprehend anyone. Information can be provided to the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or through the anonymous tip line at 215-686-TIPS — 215-686-8477.
Final Status — A Smaller Board, Not a Closed One
The December 2023 press conference compressed 12 unrelated killings into a single board of faces. Since then, seven suspects have been marked arrested, and one surrendered. The search remains active for four others.
Those numbers can make the operation appear close to completion. The underlying files tell a different story.
Several arrests are visible on fugitive pages without a corresponding public verdict, plea, dismissal, or sentence. In those cases, the public can see that a manhunt ended but cannot see how the prosecution developed afterward.
The remaining four investigations carry different forms of unfinished evidence. Houston’s case contains eight casings and no gun. Gillette’s involves a dead 16-year-old, a wounded 13-year-old, and an unexplained early detention. Sabir has remained outside the court process since a 2019 homicide. Smith’s alleged co-defendant is already serving decades in prison while Smith remains wanted.
The original board is smaller.
It is not closed.
