Family still pleads for answers 14 years after Marvin Monroe found dead outside abandoned building

Who killed Marvin Monroe?

Marvin Earl Monroe was found shot to death near an abandoned home in 2011. Fourteen years later, his family?s plea for the truth remains the same: it?s never too late to come forward.

DETROIT (AP) - Back in June 2011, Jeanise Monroe had just graduated from college. She saw her uncle that day. They celebrated together. By the next day, she and her family were in mourning.

Marvin Earl Monroe, just 46, was found shot to death outside an abandoned home near Chalmers and Frankfort on Detroit’s east side. Fourteen years later, his family still doesn’t know who killed him — or why.

"We miss him, it’s been a long journey. We haven’t given up," Jeanise said back in 2017, when the family made another plea through Crime Stoppers.

Hope remained then. Resolve remained too.

"You don’t want to be on the other side of this camera… don’t know who took them away from you," she said at the time.

"Deep down inside you know what you’ve done… it’s time to come clean."Today, the family’s plea is unchanged."It’s never too late to turn yourself in," Jeanise says.

Monroe was last seen leaving his brother’s house on Coplin Street around 1 a.m. on June 19th, 2011 Father’s Day. By 4 a.m., he was gone.

"We couldn’t fathom why someone would want to take his life… that was on Father’s Day… every Father’s Day has never been the same since then," Jeanise says.

Neighbors recall the gunshots in the early hours — the sound was not uncommon in that neighborhood."That street is such a busy street, hearing someone drive real fast… hearing gunshots in the area is a common thing."

Even after all this time, the family insists they won’t stop fighting for answers."

Certainly the person who did it could just unburden themselves, come forward instead of living with this awful secret… you understand how hurtful and hard this has been to our family… it’s never too late."