Family of man slain on Thanksgiving Day hoping for justice 9 years later

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Nine years after a Cleveland man was shot to death on Thanksgiving Day in Cincinnati, his family keeps hope alive that his case will be solved.

John Derrico was 23 years old going to school at the Job Corps Center in Cincinnati when he was shot in Mt. Airy.

“He needs justice,” said Carla Derrico, John’s mother. “I need justice. The family needs justice.”

It’s hard time of the year for Carla.

“He was my baby,” she said Wednesday. “My son was a very nice, respectable guy.”

John died on Kirby Avenue on Thanksgiving Day in 2013.

“I believe he was robbed of his life,” Carla said. “I look at it like this: I don’t know what happened exactly because I live here in Cleveland, but one day it will come out what happened.”

A suspect was arrested days after the shooting, but prosecutors dropped the charges the following year because, according to Carla, witness testimony fell through.

It devastated John’s family, but Carla still has faith.

“I have a lot of faith that somebody will come forward,” she said. “I just want them to come forward. It’s been nine years now. I just want them to come forward.”

If you have any information in John’s case, you’re urged to contact the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

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