Story Published: Sep 26, 2009 at 10:40 AM EDT
Story Updated: Sep 26, 2009 at 10:40 AM EDT
A cold case murder, on the shelves for nearly half a decade, remains unsolved and the victim's family is left to wonder why. This, as family and friends of other murder victims gather to remember their loved ones.
In Niagara Square, a group of people come together who share one thing in common - they've all lost a loved one to homicide. The shoes of the dead stand empty next to photos at this vigil, a reminder of lives snuffed out by violence. "This seems to become sort of a public therapy opportunity where people get a chance to speak collectively, to tell what's on their minds, and in their hearts, and in their lives," said Dr. Peter St. Jean, organizer of the vigil.
Some grieve publicly. Others grieve privately like Ali Sarmad. He can't bring himself to sell his mother's home. She was murdered in this Humboldt Parkway residence back in July of 2002. "I found my mother upstairs lying face down in her bed, blood all over the mattress," said Sarmad.
Sarmad has left the house exactly as it was she day she died. Fingerprint dust is smeared all over the light switch and a forensic tech's glove still lies discarded on the bedroom floor. Sarmad doesn't want to touch anything because his mother's killers haven't been found and he's frustrated that the police haven't cracked the case. "They had taken fingerprints and I though they had taken DNA. There's plenty of DNA left in the house," said Sarmad.
75-year-old Barbara Thompson was bludgeoned to death. At the time of the murder Eyewitness news spoke to one of her friends. "I'm very hurt. We was a family," said Esther Williams back in 2002.
Candles, photos, and even vigils help keep the memory of murder victims alive. But what Ali Sarmad really wants is to have this cold case solved.
"Some closure to the case, its been quite some time," said
Sarmad says the Buffalo Police's Cold Case Squad took his mother's case over back in 2006. But he hasn't much from them since then. The Buffalo Police spokesman tells us that since 2008, the squad has solved 25 homicides.
