One of the two suspects arrested in connection with a late October homicide on Platte Avenue made his first appearance in court Tuesday, November 21.
The victim’s family was also in the courtroom and they plan on being there until they get justice.
Charmaine Jones, the victim’s sister said, “I miss your smile. I miss just everything about you, and even more. I just can’t believe that you’re gone. But he’s still right here.”
It happened just before 10 p.m. on October 30 at a business on East Platte, between Iowa avenue and Prairie Road. Officers found 24-year-old Conte Emanuel Smith-El dead inside the business.
“All he was trying to do literally was work. That was it,” said Jones. “He’s a good kid. He wasn’t doing anything that he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He did his best and obviously he’s still doing his best because we got those two. We got them.”
Twenty-three-year-old Deddrick Hill was arrested and charged with first degree murder, along with another 16-year-old suspect.
Smith-El’s sister says she’s confident in the attorneys and everyone working on the case, but seeing her brother’s suspected killer isn’t easy.
Jones said, “I’m glad that they caught them but it won’t ever be closure, I don’t think or I haven’t come to that point to say that word.”
FOX21 asked if there was one thing she would to say to the man sitting across the courtroom.
“You are such a coward. You are the scum of the earth. You should be buried up under six feet so that means never get out. I hope you spend the rest of your life in prison and you’re going to pay, you’re going to pay,” said Jones.
The next time the case will be in court is February 23, 2018.