Family begs for answers after Federal Way teen killed in broad daylight

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The McDonald home has been quiet lately. It's the worst kind of silence one could imagine.

"I keep thinking he's going to come walking in through the door," says Bobby McDonald.

It's been a month since Bobby's son was murdered in broad daylight. The thought of his death is still surreal to his parents.

2020 started off looking bright for 19-year-old Donovan McDonald. He'd graduated high school and gotten his first big job working in construction.

"We were so proud and excited for him," says Donovan's mother, Glenda.

Donovan was living at home with his family in Federal Way. Monday, Jan. 6 was his day off. He woke up, talked to his dad, and left the house. By 10 a.m., he was dead.

"When I saw his body, I thought, 'Wow, my son is really dead.' And even after seeing that you still don't accept it. That's my son, my flesh and blood, lying there in a casket," says Bobby McDonald.

His parents are still completely numb. Processing their child's murder has been an unimaginable battle, especially as the unknowns continue to gnaw at them.

Not only do they not know who killed him or why, they don't know why he was at the Silver Shadow Apartments that morning to begin with.

"We don't know, we don't know if it was to see friends, or if he was visiting a girl. We don't know anything."

At first glance, the crime scene would've just looked like a car wreck. Donovan's car was still running and had gone into a fire hydrant. But investigators soon realized it wasn't that clear cut. A single shot had gone through Donovan's car and killed him.

The murder happened in the parking lot of the pastel-colored apartments filled with families. Investigators know many people were home at the time.

"This place has lots of apartment dwellers. People heard shots. Some came forth, but not everybody did," says Myrle Carner with Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest. Investigators know there are people who haven't talked.

Their silence adds to the heart-wrenching silence in Donovan's parents' lives in a way that's impossible to put into words.

"Every day it feels like it's not getting any better," says Donovan's father Bobby.

Donovan's mother says there is no way to truly express her pain.

"You have this life, and you pour your heart and soul, your everything into this life. The gift that God gave you. You raise this life with your love and to the best of your ability, and then this life is taken. So there are no words. There is not one to describe it. The word doesn't exist."