A reward for information leading to answers after a 15-year-old boy was found burned in a trash can in Chicago alley has climbed to $15,000 more than two years after his death.
New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church on Tuesday raised the reward seeking an arrest for the person responsible for former member Demetrius Griffin's brutal death.
Police said the case remains an open investigation.
"Detectives are working with community members, businesses and faith leaders to generate information," Sgt. Mike Malinowski with the Chicago Police Department said in a statement. "In fact, the detectives helped to raise additional money for a total of $15,000, related to this investigation."
Griffin died from burns and his death was ruled a homicide by the Cook County medical examiner's office. The Steinmetz High School freshman was found early Sept. 17, 2016 on Chicago's West Side. Chicago police responding to a report of a refuse fire found the burned body.
The boy's body was burned beyond recognition and it took the medical examiner more than a month to determine the cause and manner of the teen's death.
Griffin Jr. was a beloved teen who enjoyed swimming and playing with dogs, his family said.
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"He was a 15-year-old kid, loved the neighborhood, loved everyone," his mother Polynesia Sykes said shortly after her son's death. "Everyone loved Demetrius. That's why I don't understand why someone would do like this, to hurt him."
A previous reward sat at $7,500, until now. Police have asked anyone with information to contact Area North detectives at (312) 744-8261. Anonymous tips can also be submitted at CPDtip.com.
"Some monster out there murdered my son, they murdered my son," Sykes said, adding, "If anybody seen anything please help us. He was just a baby, he didn't deserve this."
