BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Shirley Banks prayed for the day she would learn what happened to her grandson, Jaylen Griffin, who was 12 years old when he disappeared in August 2020.
Now, she has an answer, but so many more questions.
"The Lord works in mysterious ways," she told 7 News Tuesday.
"We didn't know where he was for three and a half years, but I knew it would come to light."
Jalyen's body was discovered on Friday in the attic of a four-unit apartment house at 107 Sheffield Avenue in South Buffalo — about five miles from where Jaylen lived on Warren Avenue near the Central Terminal.
That's also where he last seen. His family says that he left his house to go walk to a nearby store on Broadway.
Banks told 7 News that her son was no a runaway and that she has no idea how he would end up on Sheffield.
"Somebody had to take him there because there's no way he could have walked there," she said. "He don't know nobody over there."
Shirley Banks and Jaylen's other family members are now preparing to give him a proper funeral.
There's also a memorial being planned on Monday, on what should have been Jaylen's 16th birthday.
She had a message for whoever took her grandson's life.
"What goes around comes around, you know, you reap what you sow. So whoever did this don't think you're getting away with it because you're not, you're not getting away with it at all. You're gonna pay for what you done. Whoever you are, how old you are. It doesn't matter, you're gonna pay for what you done."
She asked people to remember Jaylen for his smile.
"Remember him as a child," she asked.
Police say that the discovery of his body opens up a whole new phase of the investigation.
They're asking that anyone with information about what happened to Jaylen is asking the public to call them at 716-847-2255 or to reach out to Crime Stoppers WNY at 716-867-6161 or crimestopperswny.org.
