Some cold cases leave behind more than unanswered questions. They leave behind people who grow up in the shadow of a single night that changed everything.
THE CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Joyce Morris still thinks about that final night, May 15, 1992, visiting with her pregnant niece Valencia and her little boy. And then she thinks about what happened after Valencia and her son left and headed home.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, and I remember feeling really weird. I remember I had a terrible headache. And while I was up, I had this strange feeling like I needed to call Valencia, to talk to her, but it was the middle of the night, and I knew it was too late. I did not want to wake her up, especially with her little boy there.”
By the time dawn broke, police had surrounded the outside of Valencia’s home with crime scene tape. Detectives flooded the neighborhood. Inside was a crime scene beyond belief.
Valencia was lying on the floor in her bedroom, murdered, having been stabbed more than 25 times. The fetus of her baby girl due any day was also killed. There was no sign of forced entry. There was no evidence of robbery. Whoever entered that house in the middle of the night either had a key or was let in voluntarily by Valencia. The killer left few clues behind. But there was one thing the killer did leave behind: the 18-month-old little boy, alone, in the dark, with his bloodied mother and her unborn child.
Police immediately focused on two obvious suspects, the men in Valencia’s life. Antoine Jackson was the father of the unborn little girl, and Ricky Herron was the father of the 18-month-old left alive. Police looked into both men thoroughly, before ruling each of them out as suspects.
The years passed by and one thing never changed. A little 18 month old boy was growing up. His father was no longer part of his life, and he still longed for his mother.
His name is Aki Herron.
Today, Aki is 30 years old. He has never spoken publicly about that night until now.
“I was literally the only person right there. I could not do anything. I could not say anything,” Aki said. “I could not go for help. I could not be there for my mom. I was just right there.”
He may only have been 18 months old, but Aki says he has lived with a vision of what happened that night deep in his memory.
He is still haunted about that night 30 years ago. I asked him the question I had to ask.
And he says in his heart… he knows.
“Yeah, I definitely know. This is kind of a no brainer for me. I really do want that closure.” Aki pauses, looks at the ground, and I realize he is going to someplace he has never gone before publicly.
“I just want to be able to look him in the eye and say “I forgive you.”
If stories like this matter to you—if you believe forgotten cases deserve another look—25 Frozen, 1 Thawed takes you inside real cold cases across the Midwest and the people still searching for answers.
25 Frozen, 1 Thawed
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