Attention to unsolved murders
Survivors group aims for cold case closure
Mary Franklin, long an advocate for homicide victims and their survivors, is broadening her push to solve Boston’s hundreds of cold cases, enlisting families to help pressure city and state officials as well as community members to give grieving families closure.
“This group is going to make people accountable — the city, all elected officials, the clergy, the DA’s office,” said Franklin, announcing the founding of Boston Families Against Unsolved Murders. “And hear me well when I say this — also the communities where these crimes are taking place.”
Franklin previously founded the Women Survivors of Homicide Movement, which led public protests after a Herald special report in 2014 that highlighted 336 unsolved homicides in Boston over the past decade. Franklin has led rallies and occupied Boston Police Department headquarters for 10 days to call attention to unsolved murders, which number nearly 1,000 in the Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester neighborhoods going back to 1970.
She’s looking to “start fresh” with this new group, which met in a private session, moderated by Herald Deputy Managing Editor Zuri Berry, last night in Roxbury. Ten women shared their stories of losing immediate family members, and Franklin said the new group will bring in parents, siblings and spouses of murder victims to involve more people who can directly petition police for answers and be more actively involved in investigations.
Dorchester resident Kaiesha Skinner, whose 17-year-old son Aice was murdered earlier this year, said she’s hoping the group will help bring his killer to justice. She believes she knows who the murderer is, but there isn’t enough evidence to bring him in, she said.
“It’s not right that he gets to wander the street and my baby’s murder is going unsolved,” Skinner said. “I want to see the community, they’re saying we don’t know nothing — well, you know something.”
Franklin said the group’s first goal is to meet with Mayor Martin J. Walsh to discuss their concerns. Everyone present at the meeting wrote Walsh a personal message saying who they lost. Franklin said the letters will be delivered to the mayor.
City Chief Diversity Officer Danielson Tavares attended the meeting and said he would let Walsh know the group wants a meeting. Some of the people present had not spoken with homicide detectives about their cold cases for over a decade, Tavares said, and he said he was glad families were taking action.
“Even though we’re dealing with a lot of pain and suffering it’s good to see these families organize and come together around this issue,” Tavares said. “I think this is something important not only to Mary but also the city.”
Franklin said the group is also distributing a questionnaire asking family members to describe their interactions with detectives assigned to their cases so the group can get a better idea of what cases are being actively being worked on.