SILENT WITNESS

Phoenix police looking for suspects in 2015 Christmas Eve killing

Dec 4, 2023, 1:00 PM

Henok Woldu smiling in photo...

Henok Woldu was killed in Phoenix on Christmas Eve in 2015. (Silent Witness Photo)

(Silent Witness Photo)

This article originally appeared Jan. 18, 2016.

PHOENIX — If losing a loved one to violence isn’t bad enough, losing them around a holiday or special date makes it even more tragic.

“Unfortunately, the family gets haunted every year by the memory of their loss,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jamie Rothschild said.

Investigators need help finding the killers of 26-year-old Henok Woldu. His body was discovered in his car at 4:30 a.m. Dec. 24, 2015 — Christmas Eve.

The officers who found him were responding to calls of shots fired near 27th Avenue and Indian School Road.

“There were witnesses in the area who saw two men and a woman flee the area in a black SUV,” Rothschild said. “We know there were more people out at that time of the morning and we really need anyone who saw anything to contact us.”

Woldu worked two jobs, one at the airport doing wheelchair transport and the other at a convenience market.

“We don’t have any indications to believe that he was anything other than a hard-working man trying to support his family and be engaged in the community he serves,” Rothschild said.

Read more about the case here.

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Phoenix police looking for suspects in 2015 Christmas Eve killing