This summer, the Phoenix Police Department has launched a new initiative to bring attention to cold case homicides. "Hot Desert, Cold Cases" will be a series of videos and other posts on the department's social media profiles, highlighting cold cases. In addition, Silent Witness is upping the reward for information leading to the arrest and/or indictment of the suspect/s of the crime. The reward will be $5,000 for the first four cold cases.
The series continues with the murder of Freddy Aguilar.
It was August 28, 2010. A 14-year-old Federico Aguilar—Freddy to his family and friends—had spent the night at a friend's house near 47th Street and Roeser Road when two suspects entered the home and started shooting.
"It hits you like a ton of bricks," Armida Rodriguez-Aguilar, Freddy's mom, said. "You just feel like, your heart just go down."
The suspects came in to the home around 4:30 a.m., demanding money and marijuana. Four people in the home were shot. As the suspects left, they attacked another person asleep in a car out front. Of the five injured, four survived. Freddy did not.
"I remember him complaining about his clothes," Armida recalled. "I called him a drama queen and he walked out. He closed the door. And I said 'but I love you.' And that was about it. That was the last time I heard anything."
Armida recalled the last interaction she had with her son—the middle child of her three boys. She called him the glue because he kept everyone together. She said she misses the little things the most like him calling her 'Ma,' and spending time in the kitchen together—he loved to cook.
"If you've investigated one child death, you've investigated too many," Phoenix Police Sgt. Bryan Korus said.
Korus was a homicide detective at the time of the case and remembers responding to the scene. The sergeant says they tried every route to catch these suspects from photo lineups to the Fugitive Apprehension Team, but this case has gone cold.
"Unfortunately, this will never be solved quick enough for Freddy's family, and that's primarily who we work for," Sgt. Korus said.
Freddy would have been 25 this year. Two tattoos on Armida's arm remind her of her son: a sketch of a favorite photo and a poem. She said she knows there are people out there who know what happened that morning, and she prays someone will come forward.
"In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same," Armida read off her arm. "It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone. For part of us went with you, the day God called you home. He left us beautiful memories. Your love is still our guide. And though we cannot see you, you're always by our side. Our family chain is broken. And nothing seems the same. But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again."
If you have any information regarding this case, contact Silent Witness at 480-Witness, or leave an anonymous tip on the Silent Witness website. You will remain anonymous and could earn a cash reward.
Republished courtesy of Phoenix Police Department.