Unsolved mystery: Young woman fatally shot in Phoenix parking lot in 2011
Mar 13, 2024, 1:00 PM
This article originally appeared April 18, 2016.
PHOENIX — Phoenix Police are seeking help from the public in reinvigorating a cold homicide case from 2011.
Alexcia Salsbery, 22, was heading home from a party around 2 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2011, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
Salsberry was with her girlfriend near 51st Avenue and McDowell Road when they got into an argument and pulled off the road into a Discount Tire parking lot, homicide Sgt. Eric Lumley said.
The victim got out of the passenger side and walked around the back of a building to cool off. Her girlfriend drove around and found her. They made up and Salsberry got back into the vehicle. At that point, Salsberry’s girlfriend said a guy drove up beside them.
The girlfriend told police she’d never seen the man before, but he asked if they were all right and if they needed help.
After they responded that they were fine and began to drive away, the suspect fired one round from a handgun at the girlfriend’s vehicle. The bullet struck Salsberry, killing her.
There were people getting gas at the nearby Circle-K who, like Salsberry’s girlfriend, described a white or light-colored SUV. Another person said it was a pickup, Lumley said.
Either way, everyone agrees it was a light color, full-sized vehicle. Police also know that there is a lone suspect in this case.
“Obviously, he has friends and family he could have talked to and they know about what happened,” Lumley said. “We’re hoping they’ll make an anonymous call to Silent Witness with that information.”
The suspect is described as a Hispanic man aged between 20 to 30 years old, with short black hair and a subtle mustache.
His vehicle was believed to be a 2000s Ford Expedition, featuring dark running boards and black wheel well molding.
Read more about the case here.