A north suburban businessman has offered a cash infusion to the original reward offered in the search for answers after a boy's body was found burned in a trash can in an alley on Chicago's West Side.
“Thanks be to God, a guy who’s not even from our community, in Oakbrook, put up the $5,000 cause he put himself in this family’s position,” Rev. Ira Acree, a community activist, said at news conference Tuesday.
The cash addition brings the reward offered for information in Griffin's death, started by the Leaders Network, up to $7,500. The businessman wishes to remain anonymous.
The body of Demetrius Griffin Jr., 15, was found around 1:25 a.m. Sept. 17 after police responded to a “refuse fire” in the 5500 block of West Cortez in the city’s South Austin neighborhood, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
“All of us have a sense of dignity, a level of insult, and outrage, and in this case, we will not go back to business of usual until the killer of Demetrius Griffin Jr. is off the streets,” said Rev. Marshall Hatch, the family’s pastor.
Griffin Jr. was a beloved teen who enjoyed swimming and playing with dogs, his family said.
"He was a 15-year-old kid, loved the neighborhood, loved everyone," said his mother Polynesia Sykes. "Everyone loved Demetrius. That's why I don't understand why someone would do like this, to hurt him."
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Sykes said she knew something was wrong when her son missed his curfew.
"He wasn't gang affiliated, he wasn't into the streets like that," she said. "Demetrius' problem was that he loved everyone and he trusted everyone."
Griffin Jr. had graduated from Bruson Elementary earlier this year, where he was part of the Boys and Girls Club. Just weeks ago, he began his freshman year at Steinmetz High School.
Sykes hopes someone who saw something may be able to help catch her son's killer or killers.
"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."
