• FAST FACTS
  • Three Cold Cases Get Boost of Cash
  • $5,000 Offered by the State in Each Case
  • Father of Victim Hopes This Will Help Bring Justice

tom.powell@wreg.com
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(MEMPHIS November 10, 2009 8:51 PM) -- Derrick Kindred, Sr. has made it his life's mission to find his son's killer. Derrick Kindred, Jr. was found burning in a field on December 19, 2004. Investigators believe the killer or killers shot him in the back of the head, then dumped his body and set it on fire near the corner of Zodiac and Argot.

"Some people have a relationship with their kids but we had a bond," says Kindred. He recalls going to the morgue to identify his son's burned body. "I saw him. They had to drag me out. Ever since that day, I haven't been the same person."

After the tragedy, Kindred visited his son's gravesite everyday, to the point where friends and family had to come and convince him to leave. He had to quit his job because he couldn't go a day without breaking down. "Because I couldn't work," he says. "I had no peace, now it's my mission is to find out who did this."

Kindred has visited the Criminal Justice Center often since his son's death, checking in with detectives nearly every other day. Now he's getting help from the Governor. Crime Stoppers is already offering $1,000, now an additional $5,000 is being offered by the state as a reward "for information leading to the apprehension, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible" for the murder.

District Attorney General Bill Gibbons put in a request to Governor Phil Bredeson to allocate $5,000 in reward money for information in three different cold cases, including Kindred's.

The money is also being offered in the case of Patrick Johnson who was shot after leaving work at the Thomas Street Liquor store on July 24, 2002. That's $5,000 in addition to the $1,000 already being offered by Crime Stoppers.

The third cold case is that of Ethan Jacobs. The 31-year-old was killed on May 27, 2007. He was shot while at a boat ramp at Riverside Park Marina on McKellar Lake. According to the District Attorney, "A suspect was arrested in the case, but a judge dismissed the charge after a witness could not identify the suspect at a preliminary hearing. The total reward money from the state, Crime Stoppers, and private donations in this case is $10,000."

If you can help police, call Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH.