Tuesday, July 31, 2012

14 years later, murder victim Ryan Harris, 11, still remembered - Chicago Sun-Times

Ryan Harris photo via Chicago Sun-Times
 14 years later, murder victim Ryan Harris, 11, still remembered - Chicago Sun-Times

Still a sore wound and this young victim is still not forgotten. In fact on two occasion we share articles that mentioned her name one asking about a mural in Harris' honor and another about a crackdown on vacant lots. Here's a piece of the story from the past weekend:
The balloons that swirled up into the blue sky on Saturday were a familiar sight for Englewood residents. This year marks the 14th time friends and family of 11-year-old murder victim Ryan Harris have met at her namesake park to remember a life cut short.

On July 28, 1998, the lifeless girl was found battered and sexually assaulted in an isolated Englewood backyard a day after she’d been reported missing. The grisly murder made national headlines when two boys — ages 7 and 8 — were charged with the crime, then later cleared.

DNA evidence later linked Floyd Durr, of the South Side, to the crime and he eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

For Sabrina Harris, the girl’s mother, the details are still fresh.

But the anniversary of the event is about more than Ryan’s life, she said. It’s about the grief communities are consumed with from ongoing street violence. With family and friends clad in T-shirts featuring Ryan’s photo, Sabrina Ryan took the microphone to thank the crowd for coming out to remember her daughter. But tears welled: “I’m so overwhelmed with a lot of the shootings that are happening in our community. And all these deaths, they need to stop,” she said.
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