PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Valley mom is hoping a new billboard in central Phoenix will help bring in tips in the 2021 murder of her daughter.
Friday marks four long years since a 23-year-old Destiny McClain was gunned down in front of a food truck near 17th Street and McDowell Road. Despite surveillance cameras that captured the incident, there hasn’t been a single arrest in her case.
Brenda Gilliam-Miller, McClain’s mother, hopes the billboard near Interstate 17 and Washington Street leads to justice. “I miss her being around. I miss talking to her. I just miss everything about her. So to have to wake up, to commemorate the worst day of my life is just extremely difficult,” said Gilliam-Miller.
McClain’s mother hopes the billboard near Interstate 17 and Washington Street leads to justice.(Arizona’s Family)
McClain was out with a friend on July 18, 2021, when someone drove by and opened fire. “They were waiting in line to order food and when he bent forward to count money, that’s when the shooting started,” Gilliam-Miller explained. “She lost her life trying to be a good friend and doing something that she normally wouldn’t do because she was a homebody.”
Gilliam-Miller said time hasn’t brought closure. “This isn’t something you ever expect and it’s not something you ever heal from. Here it is, four years later and it’s just like it happened yesterday.”
Sometimes it’s almost as if the world has moved on, but Gilliam-Miller can’t. “We’re struggling every day, just trying to just make it through the day and this person is just walking around freely,” she described.
She said a billboard near I-17 and Washington Street that highlights her daughter’s case was donated. She is hopeful it will bring the answers she’s been waiting for.
“My hope is that this billboard will either put some type of conviction in someone’s heart to come forward or spark something and someone who might have been there that night,” said Gilliam-Miller.
McClain’s mother says time hasn’t brought closure.(Arizona’s Family)
For her, it’s more than just a message; it’s a plea to the thousands of drivers that will pass by every day. “To know that people are walking around and know what happened and they just don’t care, that’s hard because she would have been the first person there to help them,” Gilliam-Miller explained.
Anyone with information in Destiny’s case is asked to contact Silent Witness. You can remain anonymous and you can help bring closure to a family that’s waited far too long.
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