INDIANAPOLIS — The parents of man murdered a year ago are holding out hope someone will help give clues about his killer.
Shawn Spells lost her son Shane to gun violence.
"It's like they took my will to live," she said.
Spells and Shane's father, Duane, are trying to make sense of the street code that's left their son's killer on the street.
"Everybody say, 'Stop the snitching, stop the snitching,'" Duane said. "It's the street code. Who invited everybody to the street code? Where did everybody get the street code from?"
Shane, whose name is a combination of his parents' names, loved the family photos. His family shared photos from his high school and college graduations, too. The parents of two boys spent as much time with them as possible.
"We are a close knit family, the four of us," Shawn said.
Shane had just finished college when someone shot and killed him Sept. 1, 2019. It happened in the 5500 block of Broadmoor Plaza on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
Dozens of police officers responded to the scene, but when detectives canvassed the area talking to neighbors, they got silence. It's the kind of silence that has left the Spells family in so much pain. The one-year anniversary of Shane's death was difficult.
Duane said his son was the type of person who would never keep silent about wrongdoing and the type of young man who would never leave someone behind who needed his help. Shane's mother gave 13News a list of words that described her son.
"Fun, loving, humble, kind, generous, respectful. He never met a stranger," she said.
Now, after an entire year with no clues, no answers and little to no leads, a Crime Stoppers reward flyer about Shane is being re-circulated to encourage people with information to anonymously come forward by calling the tip line. His family knows an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers is the safest way to bring his killer to justice.
"We have software at Crime Stoppers that allows callers to remain anonymous no matter what," said Dan Rosenberg, "that means even if you send a photo, video or anything to the tip line you will not ever be identified. That's important to our community so they can give detectives the information they need to solve the crimes they need to solve."
Even in their grief, the Spells family knows they're not the only family who needs the public's help.
"If we can get some kind of break, that would ease a little of the pain," Shawn said.
"If you know something, please come say something," Duane said.
Everyone who has ever called Crime Stoppers has remained anonymous. The telephone number is 317-262-TIPS. If a tip leads to an arrest in any investigation, you will receive up to $1,000 in reward money and still remain anonymous.