For the last 10 years, the family of Jason Salazar has been searching for answers and digging for justice. It was April 24, 2006 when police say Salazar was gunned down inside his own house. The unknown gunman, according to reports, was waiting in the wings for Salazar to return home. It’s not clear if the mystery suspect forced his way inside or found an opportunity to enter without anyone knowing.
According to Fox 17, the Grand Rapids Police believe it was simply a robbery gone bad, but for Salazar’s sister it’s much more –she cannot fathom why anyone would want to harm the loving man who blessed their family.
Adda Addi, Salazar’s sister, remembers the day her brother was murdered and she lives with the lingering reality of their family not knowing who did this every single day. Addi told Fox 17, “We were the ones who went to his home and we discovered him lying there dead. You know that pain just never goes away.”
Addi took time to share with the station a little about who her 32-year-old brother was. She said Salazar was a father and a hard-working certified nursing assistant for disabled patients. Addi said he loved his job and he lived for his daughter and his patients.
She told the news station, “He had a dog that he called Mixer that he would bring to patients and they said when he brought the dog there it made all the patients happy. They said he was the first one there making coffee in the morning and always the last one to leave.”
Sgt. Terry Dixon with the Grand Rapids police department also spoke to Fox 17. He said their station reviews Salazar’s case “periodically.” He added, “With the application of new technology and recent advances in DNA analysis, our ability to identify unknown offenders has dramatically increased and would aid in us to be successful in solving the case.”
This fall, Salazar’s daughter starts a new chapter in her life — one her family wishes he could be here to not only watch, but to help with. The now 18-year-old, who was only seven at the time of her father’s death, will become an engineering student at the University of Michigan. Addi knows Salazar would be the proudest father in the area.
Addi told the news station, “She loved him, adored him, he was just so active with her. He was a great dad, really close to his daughter, very close, they had a really good bond. …We feel that my brother deserves justice. He didn’t deserve for this to happen to him.”
She’s hoping those who were afraid to come forward before, will have the strength and the courage to do so now. Having the answers in her brother’s death is all her family has ever wanted.
“Our family is really hoping and praying and pleading to the public if any information regarding my brother’s death please just contact authorities,” she told Fox 17.
If you have any nuggets of information to share with authorities, please contact the Grand Rapids Police department directly. No lead is too small and anyone who contacts them can always keep their identity anonymous.
Read more: Fox 17