Chicago family still seeks answers after boy burned alive in 2016

Who would burn somebody alive? What could you possibly do to somebody that they would burn you alive? It's a question this family has been asking for more than 10 years. Who set 15-year-old Demetrius Griffin Jr. on fire? And why has no one been held accountable? Any indication of where he went that he didn't return home that day? He walked a friend home. He walked a little girl home that evening. and she claims he walked her halfway home and then he was headed back home. That's what she claimed. Do you buy this story? No. What do you think happened? I have no idea what happened, but I don't buy that story. And see, I don't know her and I haven't seen her since. On September 16th, 2016, firefighters found his body burning inside a garbage can in this alley near the 5500 block of West Cortez, just a block and a half from home. The medical examiner determined he 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. That was my only nephew. That was my baby. But before Demetrius became the face of an unsolved murder, he was just a kid. A high school freshman with hazel brown eyes, a big personality, and a soft spot for dogs. And he would ask me, T.T., give me two dollars. He would get a dollar for him and a dollar to get the dog something. He loved dogs. That's the boy his aunt wants the world to remember. Not just how he died, but how he lived. More than 3,600 days later, no arrest, no answers. And Rochelle Sykes says she hasn't heard from detectives in years. Before the pandemic, before the pandemic. And it's not that they called us. It was me calling them. For this family, the silence is almost as painful as the loss. It's been a living hell that we live over and over every day. But inside New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, where Demetrius grew up, attended Sunday school, and was baptized, his face still shines through the stained glass. Children chose him to be among those honored in the church's Sankofa Peace Window. The children from the church selected the young people who would be depicted in the Sankofa Peace Window. And, of course, Demetrius, given that he was born and raised here, it was an obvious choice to honor his memory alongside the memories of the other young people in the window. And just steps from where his life was taken, a cross, a tree, a bench, and once a little black box his aunt filled with books, gloves, and hats for children in the neighborhood. The box was stolen, but she hopes to replace it because even in death, she found a way for Demetrius to keep giving. 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, uh-oh, somebody's reading. Someone knows who killed Demetrius, and his family is still waiting for that person to speak up. As long as you're alive, there's always an opportunity to redeem yourself, to repent, and that's our call to action. More than 10 years without an arrest, more than 10 years without answers. But the boy whose life was taken in the darkness of an alley is still shining in the light. Tia Ewing, Fox Chicago.