SAN ANTONIO – Gone but not forgotten -- A phrase that resonates with the mission of the San Antonio Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.
Members gathered at the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church on Sunday to meet with others who have lost loved ones to homicide and community leaders.
Events like the one held Sunday are put on every year across the nation.
A Bexar County Medical Examiner delivered the keynote address. SAPD Chief William McManus and a representative from the Bexar County Sheriff's Office also addressed the crowd.
RELATED: Friends, family remember man killed in road rage incident, await justice
The group put together a slideshow of homicide victims and held a candle lighting ceremony, as well as a balloon release.
The ceremony was a bit of comfort for people like Lori Rocha who lost her son Aaron last year in a road rage shooting two weeks after his 25th birthday.
Rocha learned about her son's death through social media.
RELATED: Family wants new information on murder case of loved one killed last July
"Someone posted on his Facebook about 10:30 that night 'RIP,' that's what started the whole thing," Rocha said. "I called SAPD and said 'look someone just posted this on my sons page, I don't know where he is.'"
Her son's killer is still at large. Rocha says she doesn't know when, but she's confident that justice will be served for her son.
Teri Cleborne, compelled to become a secretary for the Parents of Murdered Children organization after her own daughter was killed by asphyxiation 7 years ago, said like Rocha, her child's murder is also unsolved.
RELATED: Man who fatally shot SAPD officer had ‘RIP Cops' tattoo
"It just broke my heart," Cleborne said. "She left two babies -- 3 and 5. She was left dead in the apartment with her two children. I was devastated it's beyond words."
Jennifer Macias has a different story surrounding the 2016 shooting death of her 18-year-old son.
His murder was solved, but she still needs closure and wants to hear what exactly happened from the people who were with her son that fateful night.
"I'm not upset with them, its not their faults," Macias said.
Even if justice is served and closure is granted for the mourning families, they said they plan to continue to make sure loved ones taken by violence are never forgotten.
During his speech Chief McManus acknowledged that Parents of Murdered Children is an organization that no mother or father would want to be a part of, but unfortunately keeps growing.
The public can do it's part to help with unsolved murders by calling Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867. You can remain anonymous.
