MN MN - Minneapolis, UncMale, UP148926, LtTeen/YngAdlt, homicide, living arrest photos, Mar'97

[The4TierBridge]

Case added to NamUs in August 2025 with almost no context.

"Booking photo from 1996"

#UP148926 link: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[The4TierBridge]

Unidentified Person/NamUs #UP148926 Male, Uncertain
Date Body Found: March 2, 1997
Location Found: Minneapolis, Minnesota

ME/C Case Number: 1997-0571

Biological Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Uncertain
Estimated Age Group: Late Teen/Young Adult
Height: 5' 6"(66 inches), Measured
Weight: 135 lbs, Measured

Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: March 2, 1997
NamUs Case Created: August 9, 2025
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Found On Tribal Land: No
Circumstances of Recovery: Homicide
Condition of Remains: Recognizable face
Hair Color: Black
Left Eye Color: Brown
Right Eye Color: Brown

All other fields are left blank.

 

[cenazoic]

Strange that they’ve got booking photos but no name.

 

[The4TierBridge]

Thanks to @PatLaurel for finding these original newspapers for me!

This person was tentatively identified as possibly being a 17-year-old named Juan Antonio Inga who had family outside of the United States, but I guess they couldn't confirm it for whatever reason. His cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and 16-year-old Gerardo Rios was convicted for killing him and sentenced to 12 years in prison. All newspapers are editions of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

UP148926

Clipping found in Star Tribune published in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 3/3/1997. UP148926

www.newspapers.com

UP148926

Clipping found in Star Tribune published in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 3/7/1997. UP148926

www.newspapers.com

UP148926

Clipping found in Star Tribune published in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 6/27/1997. UP148926

www.newspapers.com

 

[cenazoic]

What a terrible story. Bent over tying his shoe, answered the gang question wrong, shot on the spot by a 16-year old.

 

[PatLaurel]

Assuming that our John Doe is of Hispanic origin, based on the name Juan António, I did a quick search and found only three Hispanic individuals with the last name Inga living in Minneapolis and that was between 2009 and 2020, all born in the 80s, but none with that first name. Both on Ancestry and FamilySearch, I found no record of a Juan Antonio Inga born in 1979/1980.

That said, two scenarios seem plausible: he may have been using a false identity, or he may have been an illegal immigrant... or both. This would explain why he's still unidentified.
I'm curious about the circumstances under which the mugshot was taken and what name he was using at the time.

MOO JMO