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Chicago family still seeks answers after boy burned alive in 2016
Ten years after Demetrius Griffin Jr. was killed and his body was found inside a burning garbage can in Chicago, his family is still waiting for answers.
CHICAGO - Ten years after a 15-year-old Chicago boy was found burning inside a garbage can in a West Side alley, his family is still searching for answers. No one has been arrested, and his aunt says she hasn't heard from detectives in years.
"Who would burn somebody alive? What could you possibly do to somebody that they would burn you alive?" asked Rochelle Sykes, the victim's aunt.
On Sept. 16, 2016, firefighters discovered Demetrius Griffin Jr. burning inside a garbage can in an alley near the 5500 block of West Cortez Street in Chicago's Austin neighborhood.
He was just a block and a half from home.
Demetrius Griffin Jr. | Provided (FOX 32 Chicago)
The Cook County Medical Examiner determined Demetrius was still alive when the fire started.
"I can't sleep at night knowing that he went through this kind of torture and I couldn't help him," Sykes said. "That was my only nephew. That was my baby."
A walk home and unanswered questions
According to Sykes, Demetrius had walked a young girl toward her home the evening he disappeared.
The girl reportedly told the family that Demetrius walked her halfway home before heading back toward his own house.
But Sykes questions that account.
"I have no idea what happened, but I don't buy that story," she said, adding that she hasn't seen the girl since.
What happened to Demetrius after that remains a mystery.
Remembering the boy behind the headlines
Before his death became an unsolved murder case, Demetrius was a high school freshman with hazel-brown eyes, a big personality and a love for animals.
His aunt remembers a generous young boy who would ask her for two dollars: one for himself and another to buy something for a dog.
"He would ask me, 'TT, give me two dollars.' He would get a dollar for him and a dollar to get the dog something. He loved dogs," Sykes recalled.
It's those small moments she holds on to as she continues fighting to find out who killed him.
A decade of silence
More than 3,600 days have passed since Demetrius was killed.
Sykes says the family has received few answers and that she hasn't spoken with detectives since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"And it's not that they called us. It was me calling them," she said.
The lack of answers has only deepened the family's grief.
"It's been a living hell that we live over and over every day," Sykes said.
His memory shines through stained glass
At New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, where Demetrius grew up, attended Sunday school and was baptized, his memory lives on in a remarkable way.
His face is depicted in the church's Sankofa Peace Window, a stained-glass tribute honoring young people whose lives were lost to violence.
Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr. says the children of the church helped select those who would be memorialized.
"The children from the church selected the young people who would be depicted," Hatch said. "Demetrius, given that he was born and raised here, it was an obvious choice to honor his memory."
The tribute ensures that Demetrius remains part of the community where he spent his childhood.
Turning tragedy into a way to give back
Just steps from the alley where Demetrius was killed, a cross, a tree and a bench serve as a memorial.
His aunt also placed a small book box there, filling it with books, gloves and hats for neighborhood children.
Although the box was eventually taken, Sykes hopes to replace it.
For her, watching the items disappear meant children were receiving something they needed.
"When I saw the books gone, when I saw the gloves gone, and I saw the hats gone, I used to say, 'Demetrius, somebody's head's covered. Demetrius, somebody's hands are warm... somebody is reading,'" she said.
Even in death, she found a way for her nephew to continue giving to others.
A renewed plea for justice
Ten years later, Demetrius's family is still waiting for someone with information to come forward.
Rev. Hatch is calling on anyone who knows what happened to take responsibility and help bring the family answers.
"As long as you're alive, there's always an opportunity to redeem yourself, to repent, and that's our call to action," Hatch said.
For Sykes, the hope is that someone will finally break their silence and help solve the murder of a boy who never made it home.
More than a decade has passed without an arrest. The family continues to grieve, but Demetrius's memory remains alive in the community he called home.
The boy whose life was taken in the darkness of an alley is still shining in the light.
Have information about Demetrius Griffin Jr.'s murder?
Anyone with information about the Sept. 16, 2016, murder of Demetrius is urged to contact the Chicago Police Department.
You can submit an anonymous tip online at CPDTIP.com.
Even the smallest detail could help investigators and bring Demetrius's family closer to the answers they have waited a decade to receive.
The Source: The information in this story came from the Chicago Police Department and the Griffin family.