Rachel Hansen’s family increases reward in murder case

A Valley mother is on a mission to solve her daughter’s murder case. ABC15 has been closely following the investigation into the death of Rachel Hansen since 2022. The 19-year-old was shot at the self-contained Gilbert Apartments near San Tan Village Parkway and Ray Road. The young man was taken to hospital but later died.

No arrests were made, but his family worked hard to increase the reward for information to $15,000.

“This is the close-up that always shows her face and her expression,” Kim Hansen said as she looked at one of the new Silent Witness ads for her daughter’s case.

Rachel’s smile and love for horses are Kim’s way of remembering the teenager whose life was cut short.

“First of all, I want people to understand that this is happening in our community too,” said Kim, who met ABC15 not far from Rachel’s old apartment.

The last two years have come and gone with little updates for the family. In February, Gilbert police wrote in their report that they had exhausted all avenues of investigation and the case was turned over to Silent Witness. But just a few months ago, private investigator Justin Yentes began working pro bono with the Hansen family.

In August, body camera video from early morning shooting He was released along with the 911 transcript of Rachel’s own call.

Weeks later, ABC15 obtained the 300-page police report from the Gilbert Police Department detailing numerous strange things in the days before the shooting. Both the report and Kim say this all happened while Rachel was moving back into the apartment she was renting.

“Right now we don’t have a solid idea of ​​who committed this crime,” Yentes said. “There are a lot of theories floating around.”

Kim told ABC15 it was heartbreaking to meet people in Gilbert who had not heard of her daughter’s case.

“It is extremely important for all of us to get this news out,” Yentes said.

Thanks to donations and grant money, Rachel’s family was able to increase the Silent Witness reward amount from the original $2,000 to $15,000.

“We have no clues, no weapons, no witnesses, no cameras, nothing,” Kim said. “And we need the community’s help to find answers.”

With the bounty increase, Rachel’s mother is the first to put up Silent Witness signs in Gilbert. He hopes they’ll be all over the Valley soon. He and his family said they are ready to print and distribute flyers to anyone who wants to help.

“As we said from the beginning, someone knows something,” Kim said.

He said they will continue fundraising and try to increase the reward.

“We have seen the community, especially in Gilbert, come together to try to solve unsolved crimes,” Yentes said. “And we want them to do it again.”

Gilbert Police are still calling Rachel’s case an active homicide investigation. ABC15 has been reaching out to the department constantly over the past few weeks to ask if there is any interested or updated information. Police have not answered many of our team’s questions but insist their investigators are and will follow up on any leads.

“We just ask people to be brave,” Yentes said.

Yentes said tips can be sent via Silent Witness or his PI website.