South Florida mother, police want 17-year-old murder solved

MIAMI - Tracy Brown, the mother of Luis Leon Jr. who was shot and killed at his apartment complex on April 17th, 2007, wants anyone with information on his killer to come forward.

"Somebody out there believe me, they know something about what happened to my child," she said.

"This was a tragedy," said Detective Jonathan Grossman, lead investigator with the Miami-Dade police department's Cold Case Unit.

On Wednesday, he and other detectives handed out flyers with Leon's picture at the apartment complex at 13740 SW 268th Street.

Leon's family never moved, they still think someone knows something or somebody who could help them solve the murder

"We believe there were two to three subjects that were here in the community, we believe that they approached Mr. Leon, an exchanged conversation took place at which point the subjects shot Mr. Leon," said Grossman.

"At the time it happened this complex was named the Villas of Naranja, and now it has a new name but at the time everybody used to hang out outside, and nobody could tell me what happened," said Brown.

Detectives are working to crack this cold case.

"We have been in constant contact with the victim's family, and this was just an invitation from the victim's family and we wanted to make sure we come out here. This is not the first time we distributed flyers in this community, we're going to do it again and we'll continue doing what we can," said Grossman.

Brown says her son's caretaker was his grandmother, who has been praying for justice for almost 20 years.

"It's just sad that nobody knows nothing, after all this time," said Leon's grandmother Ida Brown.

Leon's family and detectives are urging anyone who knows something, even a small detail, to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).