Four years ago, on March 24, 2004, the body of 31-year-old Kevin Clewer was found in his Elaine Street apartment. He had been repeatedly stabbed—more than 40 times—with no signs of forced entry and nothing of value taken from the apartment.

Clewer was reportedly out in several Halsted Street bars the night before he was found slain, leading to conjecture that he tragically picked up the wrong person to take home after a night of partying and fun.

Sadly, it was Clewer’s dad who went to check on his son and found him dead.

Police still haven’t solved the crime, just as they haven’t solved a remarkably similar slaying—that of Brad Winters—that took place seven months before Clewer’s killing. Like Clewer, Winters was found repeatedly and brutally stabbed in his Lincoln Park apartment. And like Clewer, Winters was also reportedly out partying in Halsted Street’s gay bars the night he was killed.

In Winters’ case, police have never released any solid leads. But in Clewer’s case, a sketch was released of someone named Fernando, a “person of interest” who was apparently seen with Clewer the night of his death. Unfortunately, the sketch, as with other leads and evidence in the case, never led to anyone being charged for killing Clewer.

We do not want to forget Kevin Clewer and Brad Winters. Like most of us, they have families and friends, and those loved ones are still yearning for answers as to why these two men were killed. They deserve to know those answers. They deserve to look their loved ones’ killer or killers in the eye and ask, “Why?”

Earlier this month, 23rd District Police Commander Gary Yamashiroya was appointed to take over command of the detective division at Area 3 police headquarters. During his time at the 23rd District, which encompasses North Halsted’s gay bar and business district, Yamashiroya greatly improved relations between the police and the GLBT community. He is a true friend of our community and we’re hopeful that, under his command, Area 3 detectives will take a fresh and renewed look at the Clewer and Winters cases. Time, we can hope, has a way of revealing new clues.

We can also hope that time has made someone feel more compelled to talk about these killings. Someone knows who committed these crimes. The killer knows, for sure. It’s likely that someone else knows or at least saw or heard something suspicious enough to make them ask questions. Maybe a friend, even a lover, knows the killer but was too scared to come forward. Maybe someone suspected a friend but thought, no, it’s just too horrible to be true.

Four years after Clewer’s slaying and four and a half years after Winters was killed, anyone who knows anything that might give the Clewer and Winters families some answers needs to come forward. For most of us, these tragic crimes have faded into the past. For the loved ones of Kevin Clewer and Brad Winters, they are so fresh and painful they could have happened last week.

Anyone with access to a computer can pass on any clues they have anonymously. It’s easy enough, for example, to send us an anonymous email—to news@chicagofreepress.com—and we’ll pass the information along to the appropriate people. Clewer’s family also has a website—4chicagokev.com—where information can be submitted anonymously.

Some of us knew Kevin Clewer and Brad Winters. All of us share an interest in making sure that they are not forgotten. After all, they were part of our family, too. One day soon, we hope, we’ll know why they’re not still with us.