CBS3 Mysteries: Philadelphia Mother Makes Powerful Plea To Help Find James Walke's Killer
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A mother's plea to find her son's killer. In 2016, James Walke was gunned down in Philadelphia. Police have video of the suspect, but they haven't been able to make an arrest.
"He just loved life. Everybody had to get a hug or a big kiss from him," Yullio Robbins said.
James Walke's smile was something else.
"James was the life, the life of the party," Robbins, Walke's mother, said. "I know you hear this all the time, but my son really was. He had the most beautiful smile. He had an everlasting smile that you would never forget."
It was Feb. 23, 2016. This beloved son, brother and father to two boys was heading to Germantown, where he grew up.
"He said he was going up the way, which is Germantown. That was maybe 10 o'clock, so it was 2 o'clock, I had a phone call and someone said 'Ms. Yullio, James is laying in the street, I don't think he's breathing,'" Robbins said. "Let me tell you, my whole world just dropped."
Walke had been shot a number of times in an area locally known as Bricktown.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"Some people have no heart, just like the person who stood over top of James and pumped those bullets into him," Robbins said. "Savages, monsters, evil people walking the streets and they get away with it."
Robbins has campaigned for justice for Walke.
Her grief is only compounded by the search for her son's killer.
"I am a mother who survived the worst nightmare there is," Robbins said. "I had to bury him, at 28 years old. And he's really supposed to bury me, but it didn't turn out like that."
The case isn't a long shot. Police have video of the suspected killer.
There are such specific details about the way this man walks that mom believes he would stand out in a crowd.
"The only thing I know about the guy who killed my son is, he's heavy, dark-complected, Black man, young, who walks with a slight limp," Robbins said.
Walke's 35th birthday is coming up.
His family will celebrate him, while this mom begs and pleads for anyone with information to come forward.
Who killed her son?
"Six years seems like day one," Robbins said. "I can't even count the years, because it's all day one to me, it's like never-ending. Six years is a long time. Every day is the day they left us, the day that they've been taken from us, by vicious evil people."
If you have information on the Feb. 23, 2016 homicide of James Walke, call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS.
"We just want justice for unsolved murders, for our boys and daughters," Robbins said.
