BUFFALO — It's been two months since the body of Jaylen Griffin was found in the attic of a home in South Buffalo, five miles away from where he was last seen.
Griffin was 12 years old when he disappeared. His family said they last saw him leaving his home on Warren Avenue on Aug. 4, 2020. He said he was going to a neighborhood store.
On April 12, police made the grim discovery. His family is grateful to the police for finding him and for having the chance to give him a proper burial.
'I'm hurting': Family and friends say final goodbyes to Jaylen Griffin, boy who was missing since 2020
“It was damn good detective work," said Shirley Banks, Jaylen's grandmother, about Detectives Joelle Bence and Jon Weber of the Buffalo police SVU unit who were investigating Jaylen's disappearance. "I take my hat off to them because they really did a good job."
But the family is still seeking justice. They want to know who took Jaylen, who killed him, and why.
“This was a child, 12 years old," Banks told 7 News. "He did nothing to you. So why did you do what you did to him?”
His family doesn't understand how he could have ended up in South Buffalo.
“He don't know nobody in South Buffalo," Banks told 7 News. "There's no way he could have walked there. Somebody had to take him there.”
His uncle, Lamont Anderson, can't fathom how someone could hurt his young nephew.
“What can possess somebody to snatch a 12-year-old child up from the store and then do what they did to him?" Anderson said.
Banks said she's noticed that the police and the public are taking more notice of missing children, whether they are considered runaways or not.
“No matter what, let's help our children, let's help our community. Let's help these families because we don't know what their parents are going through," said Kareema Morris. "Nobody wants to carry this burden, nobody wants to go through the pain and the anxiety and the wondering and the uncertainty of what can happen to a child when they're not in their home.”
Morris is leading a petition drive to try to bolster laws to make sure all children's disappearances are treated seriously. You can find the petition at btvbuffalo.org.
Banks says she's hoping for one more prayer to be answered.
"I just pray and I ask the good Lord to steer me and show me the way because what you do in the dark come to light," she said.
Crimestoppers WNY is offering a $7,500 rewardfor information leading to the arrest of whoever killed Jaylen Griffin.
