Family of Charlotte's first homicide victim of 2017 desperate to find killer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tuesday marked five months since Nate Rodriguez was killed in southeast Charlotte, and the 22-year-old’s family has come forward, pleading for answers in his killing.

Rodriguez’s slaying was the city’s first homicide of 2017, and remains unsolved.

Officers and relatives of Rodriguez held a news conference Tuesday morning, looking for anyone who knows something about what happened on Jan 2, when Rodriguez was shot and killed at an apartment complex on Monroe Road.

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(Rodriguez)

Family members told Channel 9 they miss him every single day. Five months after Rodriguez was killed, those relatives still don’t have many answers.

Damaris Valdez, Rodriguez’s aunt, doesn’t know why anyone would kill her nephew.

Valdez knew something wasn’t right on that night when he wasn’t at his stepfather’s birthday party.

"We are talking about a beautiful soul that, as far as we know, had no enemies,” Valdez said. “(He) was a guy who was always there for his mother, for his sister and his little brother."

During Tuesday’s news conference, a CMPD homicide detective said they still believe Rodriguez knew his killer, but police said they need help tracking that person down.

“It won't bring happiness, but it will bring closure…which is what we need to know. That the person who did this is going to pay, will pay for what they did,” Valdez said.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.

The family plans to hand out fliers Tuesday afternoon at the apartment complex off Monroe Road in the hope that someone knows something.

"Call the detectives, let them know if you heard something, saw something,” Valdez said.

So far in 2017, Charlotte has seen 29 homicides, and currently, CMPD has been able to close 21 of those cases.

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