SAN ANTONIO – Three years after their loved one was stabbed to death, a San Antonio family hopes that raising the Crime Stoppers award money will bring them answers.
Troy Demetrius Lee, 22, was a son, a father and a street pastor. He died months before the birth of his second daughter.
“We find comfort in that knowing that he is still our angel now,” said Michaela Gallegos-Gaitan, his aunt. “Before, he was always speaking the word. He would always share positivity toward everybody. He would tell me and his family to ‘Stay positive. It is going to get better.’”
Those are strong words the family continues to repeat to themselves today, as it seems as though his murder has gone unsolved.
The family said on June 28, 2021, Lee was outside of his apartment playing a game as he usually did because he was a night owl.
Something transpired that led to him calling 911 to say he had been stabbed.
When San Antonio police arrived, they found him on a hill near a bus stop, and sadly, he died on his way to the hospital.
Lee never had the chance to meet his now 3-year-old daughter, Troi’ Sapphire Lee.
“She definitely knows her father,” Gallegos-Gaitan said. “She knows him in spirit, and she hears about him from us all the time. We always tell her that her daddy was handsome. She’s beautiful like her daddy. He loved her. He loved her and continues to watch over her.”
The family said the investigation hit a stalemate after the original detective assigned to the case was reassigned to another department.
Lee’s case was just picked back up earlier this year, which has revived some hope for the family.
“The detective who is assigned has been reaching out and going back and re-interviewing people, trying to find things they may have missed at first,” Gallegos-Gaitan said. “We have hope, but we want to make sure it is stayed on top of. Someone killed Troy, and that someone is still out there and can potentially hurt someone else.”
For Dia De Los Muertos, the family added Lee to an ofrenda set up at Mission San Jose.
“He is now with our loved one (who) passed before him, but he was way too young to go,” Gallegos-Gaitan said. “He had a whole life before him. He had children he needed to raise and is not here to do that. We just want justice for him. We need justice for him.”
The family has raised their original Crime Stoppers award from $5,000 to $10,000. Anyone with information is asked to call (210)-224-STOP.
“That is the sad thing, that we don’t know who could have done it,” Gallegos-Gaitan said. “But if you are afraid to speak up, don’t be afraid. Speak up. It is for the right reasons. We want to bring justice. We beg you to please speak up if you know anything.”
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