Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week: 10 years later, family remembers cold-case murder victim

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A nearly 10-year cold case has detectives stumped.

A man is murdered in the street, it's caught on video and the suspects are still out there. 

The victim's family is hoping you can take a look and anonymously come forward.

"We forever miss him of course, it's been 10 years now, my heart still hurts every day," said the victim's mother, Tina Brooms.

Brooms remembers the last conversation she had with her son Cordell Robinson before he was shot and killed on July 17, 2011.

"I talked to my son, I was at work. He just kept saying 'mom, I love you.' And I said 'I love you too,' not knowing that was going to be the last 'I love you.'"

Around 2:15 in the morning near 18th and Kerney Place is where police say Robinson was after a party, before he was killed. 

They're relying on surveillance video from a nearby store. It shows the suspects running from the scene.

Although it's pretty short and grainy, detectives hope you can get something from it.

"I think their intent was just to kill him," said MPD Detective Timothy Keller. 

Detective Keller says this was a rough time in Cordell Robinson's life and his drug adduction created plenty of enemies.

"The investigation did reveal that he owed potentially a large amount of money to a drug dealer and that potentially could be a motive for this," Det. Keller said. "And we learned from talking with his inner circle that he was stealing and scamming to get money to pay that debt back. So there could have been a lot of people that could have taken issue with the lifestyle that he was living."

But at the end of the day, Robinson's mother says that was just a small part of who he was, and hopes that someone will see that and come forward, if not for his sake, for hers.

"Cordell was a giver, he would give you the shirt off his back, he was very smart," she said. "I had no idea how many people his life impacted until he died, until he was killed."

"I feel privileged that someone still cares for this long time, this journey -- because that's what it is, a journey -- for individuals who have buried a child. I hope to get justice, I hope that the person or persons actually even turn themselves in."

If you know who killed 22-year-old Cordell Robinson on July 17 in 2011, call Milwaukee Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS.

Your call is always anonymous, and if your tip leads to an arrest in this case, you could get a $1,000 reward.