The cousin of Deontae Mitchell says ever since Deontae has been gone, he has been clinging on to a missing person flyer with a picture of the 13-year-old boy.
According to loved ones, they have cried so much there are no tears left.
“Hard - very painful. It’s more hard on his mom than anybody else,” said Deontae’s stepfather Earnest McFadden. “She is distraught like anybody else would be right now. You’re not supposed to bury your kids. We all know that, right? They’re supposed to bury us. That’s how it’s supposed to go.”
It is hard for family members to figure out why someone would commit such a horrifying, unthinkable crime to such a happy, playful, good kid.
“He was a good kid. He didn’t deserve this,” said McFadden. “A great kid. Greatest kid in the world.”
His cousin Raheem Matthews was at Nino’s Market with Deontae Tuesday night before someone kidnapped the 13-year-old at gunpoint after he was accused of taking $75 dollars from a stranger.
“He tried to give the money back. He didn’t want it,” said Matthews.
Now community outrage continues to grow where the boy’s body was dumped on Detroit’s east side as word spreads of the Deontae’s senseless murder.
“Everybody is mourning,” said resident Dorothy Hamilton. “Everybody is pretty hurt. That was a 13-year-old boy.”
“You just throw him out like he’s a piece of deli meat. Over dollars it ain’t even that serious,” said resident Cynthia Hunter. “You could have just picked the baby up and said I will follow you home and when we get to your house I’m going to let your mother know that you took my money and let her deal with that situation. Now we are dealing with a total loss. The community is mourning."
There is so much outrage and sorrow over Deontae’s death, a candlelight vigil will take place outside of Nino’ market around 8:00 pm.
