Article published January 03, 2010
Family still seeks answers, closure in girl's slaying
13,000 tips later, grisly Nevaeh case remains unsolved after 7 months
Relatives have photos of Nevaeh Buchanan, but what they want are answers to how the 5-year-old vanished and who killed her.
MONROE - Memories of Nevaeh Buchanan weigh heavily in the heart and mind of the slain girl's grandmother.
Sherry Buchanan said she hurts every day, but the holidays are among the hardest. She also is dreading Feb. 3, when her granddaughter would have turned 6 years old.
"I think about Nevaeh constantly. I just wish that she was here now," she said just days before Christmas. "I raised her from the first day she was born. I did everything with her."
Mrs. Buchanan recalled the morning after unwrapping gifts two years ago when Nevaeh crawled into her lap and hugged her tightly.
"She told me, 'Grandma, I love you,'•" Mrs. Buchanan said.
It was just more than seven months ago that Nevaeh went missing from the parking lot of Charlotte Arms Apartments, where she lived with her grandmother and her mother, Jennifer Buchanan.
Nevaeh, who was last seen riding a scooter in the complex on May 24, was found 10 days later in a shallow grave, encased in concrete, along the banks of the River Raisin.
The killing of Nevaeh was the area's most high-profile crime in 2009. Authorities said they cannot recall a more sensational or heinous slaying in the history of Monroe County or Monroe, a city settled by French-Canadians in the late 1700s before Michigan became a state.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office has released no new details since the autopsy showed the little girl was smothered and may have been buried alive.
To date, no witnesses have come forward, and the case remains unsolved.
Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield said a special task force of local, state, and federal law enforcement continues to investigate and the crime remains a high priority.
"Investigators are still pursuing leads and following up on additional information received. The investigation is far from having reached a dead end," he said in a written statement.
The case sparked enormous interest, dominated headlines in newspapers and on the Internet, and gained nationwide media exposure before two fishermen found her body in the shallow grave along the riverbank in Raisinville Township.
Jennifer Buchanan, and Nevaeh's father, Shane Hinojosa of West Toledo, appeared on CNN's Nancy Grace and other national TV programs.
"The Nevaeh Buchanan case has received far more national media coverage than any other homicide investigation in Monroe County's history," Sheriff Crutchfield said.
The tragedy has been followed with community projects designed to keep the victim's memory alive.
There have been candlelight vigils, spaghetti dinners, raffles, and other fund-raisers. Risa Thompson, a distant cousin of Nevaeh's, orchestrated the placement of a memorial park bench at a local elementary school and began a scholarship fund for needy preschoolers in Monroe.
The Westland, Mich., resident organized a Christmas party for needy children and their families, including many from Charlotte Arms Apartments. More than 150 children received toys, gloves, hats, and socks, and were treated to a Christmas dinner in Westland.
Ms. Thompson said she wants to keep Nevaeh's name alive in the community and keep the case in the public eye.
"I just want to make memories in her name and make her name stand out in a better light. I am trying to get justice served. She deserves it," she said.
Since Nevaeh's disappearance, the sheriff's office has fielded more than 13,000 tips, mostly from a phone line set up for the investigation.
Sheriff Crutchfield said investigators worked three-quarters of the tips into leads that were either cleared as unfounded or produced information that was helpful in the case.
"The tips have slowed down, which is normal. The task force is receiving tips weekly and the case is being worked on every day," he said.
Shortly after Nevaeh went missing, investigators focused on a pair of convicted sex offenders who were acquaintances of the mother, Jennifer Buchanan.
Investigators labeled George Kennedy and Roy Smith as "persons of interest" in the case. The men were never charged. They were sent back to prison to finish their original sentences after they were found guilty of violating parole by having contact with Nevaeh's family.
The investigation also has focused on the apartment complex where Nevaeh spent the last months of her short life.
Detectives assigned to the case last month distributed questions to residents, asking for written answers. The questions ask about their activities and whereabouts on the day Nevaeh went missing and whether they were the person responsible for the crime.
Diane Edwards said she and her family complied with the requests even though she had doubts about the questionnaire's usefulness.
"If we didn't fill it out, it would seem like we might have something to do with it," she said.
Sherry Buchanan said she prays each day for her granddaughter. She said she asks God to give Nevaeh this message: "Grandma loves you, baby, and don't ever think that I don't."
In her prayers, she also asks God that someone will come forward to admit to killing her granddaughter, providing answers to questions that will help bring her closure.
"I want to ask him, 'Why Nevaeh? Why did you pick her?'•" she said.
Lowell Kirk, a former Monroe resident who lives in Tennessee, was fishing with his stepson when they stumbled across Nevaeh's decaying, entombed body.
The men, who never had fished before at the spot on the river along Dixon Road near Ida-Maybee Road, spotted a block of poured concrete and noticed a bad smell.
The stepson, Guy Bickley of Frenchtown Township, chipped away a piece of the concrete, revealing what appeared to be human skin.
Mr. Kirk had made a surprise trip to Michigan to visit relatives, arriving at his stepson's home the day the girl went missing.
"The Lord sent me up there to find that little girl. I really believe that," he said. "I was on a mission from God. That's what it was."
A retired autoworker, Mr. Kirk said he often thinks about that day.
"Sometimes, I wake up, and she will come to my mind. I will never forget it," he said. "I got grandkids that age. I can't imagine that happening to them."
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