Cold case: Unsolved killing of 12-year-old Derrick Lee Jr. haunts his father
By Kimberly King
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Derrick Lee was moved to tears Friday, during a gathering of his family and supporters outside the Asheville Police Department all calling for accountability and an arrest in the long-unsolved killing of his 12-year-old son Derrick Lee Jr.
Victim advocate Jack Logan organized a small news conference at APD to support Lee Sr. in his ongoing hope that investigators will one day jail his son’s killer.
“In 2018 on July the first, his son was murdered at Lee Walker Heights right here in the city of Asheville,” Logan said, holding up Lee Jr.’s photo.
“We just wish someone would come clean and help us with this case,” Lee Sr. said.
Lee Sr., who wears a small black beaded bracelet with his son’s name on it, remains torn apart by the boy’s shooting death.
His son had gone to a party downtown, and, when a fight broke out, he walked with a group of friends to Lee Walker Heights, where he was shot, Lee Sr. said, recalling the day his son was killed.
Lee Sr. said he went to pick up his son downtown, but he and other parents found the children had left the area after a squabble among the kids that had been gathered. He said his son’s phone battery had died and he couldn’t reach him. Then got a call he said tore through his soul.
“A woman called and said, ‘I think your son got shot.’ And I was like no. No way,” Lee Sr. said through tears. “I’m just tired of it. If I could do anything, I would do it.”
At the gathering, Lideria Lee was wearing a sweatshirt with a photo of her and her little brother.
“I put it on today because we came down here to celebrate my brother,” Lideria Lee said.
She then corrected herself.
“Well, not celebrate, but to try to get justice,” Lideria Lee said.
Lee Sr. said he’s had his hopes dashed time and again by reports police were close to arresting a suspect only to see nothing happen. He said, at one point, police said they had a person of interest in custody on different charges. He said he thought police were close.
“Everybody that was there at Lee Walker Heights knows his name,” Lee Sr. said of the suspect. “But it’s like no one’s come to help.”
He knows witnesses have been reluctant to come forward and help police with eyewitness accounts.
Friday was no particular anniversary date around Lee Jr.’s life or death. But it was an important day because it was the day Lee Sr. and Jack Logan decided to meet and speak out yet again, hoping someone would hear their cries for help.
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