Michael Heard would talk to his mother several times a day, sometimes calling at 2 a.m. to see if she was still awake.
When Marvaleen James grabs her phone to call her youngest son these days, she has to stop herself. On Aug. 14, 2020, Heard was shot to death in an Atlanta apartment. He was 35.
“The weight is unbearable,” James said. “There are times where I go pick up the phone to call him. There are times where I actually dialed his number, and he’s not going to answer the phone and it just hurts. It hurts to not be able to hear his voice.”
James pleaded for help during a news conference this week at Atlanta Police Department headquarters. Detectives combed the crime scene at the Kings Glen Apartments off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive after the shooting, but no one has been charged.
“I know someone knows something,” James said.
Heard’s cousin found him in the bedroom of his apartment, according to police. He had been shot in the head. Heard was Atlanta’s 87th homicide victim of 2020, when authorities investigated 157. It was the most in more than two decades. Authorities have investigated 109 homicides so far this year, a number not reached until October of 2020.
While arrests have been made in the majority of the 2020 cases, Heard’s is among the unsolved.
Detective Jarion Shephard didn’t release details of the investigation during the news conference. Investigators believe the person responsible for killing Heard was likely an acquaintance and someone he was comfortable with, Shephard said.
James said she and her son’s godmother, who stood next to her, have sometimes cried together in the months since Heard’s death. She wants someone to be held accountable.
“I’m just asking the public if anybody knows anything, no matter how mediocre you may think it is, to please come forward, to please just say something,” James said. “I don’t care if it’s been a year, if it’s two years, 10 years, 20 years. Spread the word there’s going to be justice for Michael Heard.”
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Shephard at 404-617-3012. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and be eligible for rewards, by contacting Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, texting information to 274637 or visiting the Crime Stoppers website.
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