DETROIT (WXYZ) — Alisa Sanders was close to giving up hope that her son's killer would ever be caught after nearly three years went by since he was shot on Detroit’s west side.
But when she got a call from the Detroit Police Department saying that a man had been taken into custody, her hope changed.
“Hopeful, prayerful — that’s how I feel,” Sanders said.
Sanders is talking about the space she has been in since the moment she found out someone had been charged in her youngest son's murder.
“When it happened, I didn’t know what to do, where to go,” the mother of four said.
Her son Derrell Rockette, 32, was gunned down in December of 2022. He was a father of two with another baby on the way.
“He didn’t even know that he was having another baby,” Sanders said.
Sanders told me the feeling of not knowing if she'd ever see an arrest remained a constant for her until Friday when she looked the man in the face who police say killed her son.
Detroit police took Darnell Jerome Franklin Jr.,19, into custody a week ago.
Wayne County prosecutors say Franklin shot and killed Rockette in cold blood. Franklin is now facing multiple charges including first-degree murder.
Sanders says she didn’t know if this day would ever come because there wasn't much communication with Detroit police in the beginning.
So she along with other mothers who lost a child to gun violence formed the group known as Mothers Keeping Boots on the Ground to make sure their children's homicide cases weren't forgotten.
“We banned to stick together and fight,” Sanders said. “And fight for other families, so we can get justice.”
Chief Todd Bettison said Sanders helped with the case.
“She never gave up,” Bettison said. “She relentlessly continued to contact the Detroit Police Department. And she’s advocated for other mothers as well.”
“And so, she was an advocate just involved out there looking for her own tips.”
Bettison also says that the department remains committed to every victims' case regardless of when it happened.
“We are not going to stop working these cases,” the chief said. “And so our cold case unit, I’ve actually added additional officers. We just don’t close out homicide cases."
Sanders said she's grateful for the work put into her sons case and she leaves this advice for other mothers still looking for justice.
“Don’t ever, ever give up,” Sanders said. “You fight for your child... Fight. Be the voice for your child.”
