By Tim Clifford

“The family is just torn. He was a big part of this family. The only way that I could describe how I feel is that half of me died and is buried with my father,” describes Denise Jeffries as she, along with family and friends, lights candles around a sidewalk memorial to her late father.

This New Year’s Eve marked the one year anniversary of the murder of Denise’s father, Stephen Jeffries, at a party being held on the 9200 block of 16 Ave. S.W. in White Center.

After arriving to the party with his girlfriend Melinda and older sister Nikki an unknown man began fighting with the 40-year-old father of four. Just before the stroke of midnight Stephen was fatally shot twice by an unknown gunman who was in the crowd. A 33-year-old woman was also shot through the hand during the incident. Both were rushed to Harbor View where Stephen died from his injuries.

A curbside memorial complete with balloons, candles, and a white cross adorns the street sign in front of the Wed Auto Service repair shop, across the street from the Salvation Army Corps Community Center. The memorial can be spotted on Google Maps using the “street view” feature. It also sits facing the residence where Stephen was shot.

“Everybody is pretty much staying the same, saying “it happened so fast, I didn’t see anything” and not really giving us very much information,” replied Denise when asked if any new information had come out from other party guests over the last year.

“The frustration of how angering it is, knowing that there were so many people there and nobody seems to know anything or wants to come forward,” added Jamie Berg, Denise’s mother, who was also setting up the memorial.

“We weren’t there so we can’t say what they saw or didn’t say, it’s just so frustrating.”
According to Denise investigators from the southwest precinct remain hard at work on the case, providing the family with updates every month or two.

“They can’t say much, they can’t say anything because it’s still an open investigation. They’re just very brief, they just let us know ‘hey, we haven’t forgotten, we’re still on this case”, and if no one is willing to come forward and help them out it could be a while,” she says.

The reward being offered for information from Crime Stoppers has grown considerably, thanks to donations from friends and family, to a total of $6,854.

For those who were closest to Stephen the lack of information regarding the identity of the suspects and their motives has left everyone feeling uneasy. A palpable fear remains for the safety of Stephen’s four daughters, his family, and his girlfriend Melinda.

Anyone with information that could assist in the investigation is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

EDITORS NOTE: We've made a correction to this story in identifying his girlfriend as Megan. We have corrected to Melinda. We regret our error.