RICHMOND, Va. -- Re-examining unsolved murders. CBS 6 Crime Insider Jon Burkett has partnered with the Reopen the Case Foundation to highlight cold cases in Virginia with the hope that someone will see the story and provide police with the information investigators need to make an arrest.
Christian Singleton, 15, and his best friend Ketron Wells, 16, were shot and killed along the 4000 block of Decatur Street in South Richmond in June 2017.
Their killer has not yet been caught.
Recently, a security video was released that showed the teens moments before the shooting.
"The one thing that really struck me in this surveillance video is that Christian's mom says you can see her son look down at his phone," Crime Insider Jon Burkett said. "That was her texting him saying, 'You better get your butt home, because it's almost your curfew.' Minutes later, he was murdered."
Both Singleton and Wells were Richmond Public School students.
Wells attended Armstrong High School and Singleton was attending the Richmond Alternative School.
"It's hard for a number of reasons," Christian Singleton's mother Danielle said. "One he was a baby. Two, he has three other siblings. They're used to him being gone, but they're not using being gone. You can't prepare yourself for something like this. Every day for me is work. I recanvass the neighborhood every month. I owe it to him to keep going."
The Richmond Police Detective who worked the case said the teens were standing on the corner and about to turn right when an unidentified man directed them to turn left.
"That person doesn't go down there with them," former Richmond Police detective Joe Fultz said. "They go down in front of a house and they are approached by two males."
Danielle Singleton saw the police lights but was unaware her son was involved.
"I went to the store and I saw the light," she said. "I told my daughter and I told my baby boy, y'all pray for whatever is going on."
Fultz said failing to solve the case before his retirement still haunts him.
"I wanted to solve all of them before I left, but it just didn't work out that way," he said.
Danielle Singleton remains frustrated her son's killer has not been brought to justice.
"I know he's not the only case. So I try to exercise a lot of patience because Richmond has a lot going on," she said. "But to say you have two double homicides probably a month apart, four teenagers, and nothing to say to anyone. I think we need to shed some light on these cases that have gotten away from us a little bit. I know someone saw it."
If you have any information please call the Reopen the Case Foundation at 833-RTC-FNVA.
Re-examining unsolved cases. CBS 6 Crime Insider Jon Burkett has partnered with the Reopen the Case Foundation to highlight cold cases in Virginia with the hope that someone will see the story and provide police with the information investigators need to make an arrest.
