Months later, no arrest in Columbus slaying

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Posted 9:26AM on Monday, July 22, 2002

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Stanley McCray has sent letters to the producers of "America's Most Wanted and "Unsolved Mysteries" and to talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams. He says only "America's Most Wanted" replied. "We have so many requests such as yours...," the letter began. McCray just wants someone to hear the story about his son, Stanley McCray Jr., who was shot to death in April 2001. Fifteen months later, no one has been arrested for the crime. "I don't think I'll ever be able to accept the fact that he died the way he did," said his mother, Cynthia McCray, a housekeeper at the Hughston Sports Medicine Hospital. "Arresting whoever did it probably won't make me feel any better." Officials are not sure exactly what happened to McCray, 18, the night he died. He had been playing cards with friends earlier that day, his father said, and was expected to be home before his 2 a.m. curfew. His father said he has recounted the story 1,000 times, and it always ends the same - with a knock on the door, and a detective and assistant coroner handing him an ID card. The body of Junior, as his family called him, had been found about 100 yards from their home. He had been shot in the back. Junior, the oldest of three children, had been preparing to be a father. He has a 9-month-old child - Jelayla Stanna Gilliam. "As hard as Junior's death has been on us, it has been harder on the children," Cynthia McCray said. "It's been very hard for them to accept." Police continue to investigate the death but expect no arrests soon, lead detective Andrew McDonald said. The McCrays have since moved away from their old neighborhood and are trying to rebuild to their lives. But they say it is difficult, especially with the killer still roaming the streets. Mike Green, a softball coach at Kendrick, lost his son, Greg, in a car accident a couple of years ago. Greg was the same age as Junior. "Do you know what Coach Green told me?" asked McCray. "He said he and his wife have come to terms with their son's death. But, he added, he still hasn't accepted Junior's death."