Rachel Hansen’s family increases the reward in a murder case

A Valley mother is on a mission to solve her daughter’s murder case. ABC15 has been closely following the investigation into Rachel Hansen’s death since 2022. The 19-year-old was shot in her own gated Gilbert apartment near San Tan Village Parkway and Ray Road. The teenager was rushed to hospital but later died.

No arrests have been made, but her family has worked hard to increase the reward for information to $15,000.

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

Rachel’s smile and love of horses is how Kim remembers the teen whose life was cut short.

“First of all, I want people to realize that this happened in our community,” said Kim, who met with ABC15 not far from Rachel’s former apartment.

The past two years have passed with minor updates for the family. In February, Gilbert police wrote in their report that they had exhausted all their investigative data, 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 of the early morning shooting along with the 911 transcript of the phone call Rachel made to herself was released.

Weeks later, ABC15 obtained the more than 300-page police report from Gilbert police, which detailed several strange occurrences in the days before the shooting. Both the report and Kim say this all happened when Rachel moved back into the apartment she had sublet.

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

Kim told ABC15 it’s heartbreaking when she meets people in Gilbert who have never heard of her daughter’s case.

“Getting the word out is extremely important to all of us,” Yentes said.

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

“We have no leads, no weapons, no witnesses, no cameras, nothing,” Kim said. “And we just need the community’s help in finding answers.”

Now that the reward has been increased, Rachel’s mother will first put up Silent Witness flyers locally in Gilbert. She hopes they’ll be all over the Valley soon. She and her family said they are willing to print and deliver flyers to anyone who wants to help.

“Like we’ve said from the beginning, someone knows something,” Kim said.

She said they will continue to collect donations and try to keep increasing the reward.

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

Gilbert police are still calling Rachel’s case an active homicide investigation. ABC15 has been continuously contacting the department in recent weeks, asking if there are any people of interest or updates. Police have not yet answered many of our team’s questions, but insist their investigators have and will follow up on any leads.

“We’re just asking people to be brave,” Yentes said.

Yentes said tips can be submitted via Silent witness or his PI website.