Seattle mom calling for advanced DNA testing in Auburn to solve son’s murder
Mother fights for advanced DNA testing to solve son's murder in Auburn, WA
Demanding justice, a Seattle mother is calling on her son's killer to turn themselves in following the Auburn homicide.
SEATTLE - A Seattle mother is fighting for justice and urging whoever is behind her son’s death to turn themselves in.
"I miss his smile, I miss his voice, I post every day, every day, about my son, and when I see different planes that cross paths, and they make an x in the sky, I take pictures. I miss just saying his name," Lonnisha Landry said.
Her son, Xavier, was just 16 years old when someone shot and killed him in Auburn on July 12, 2024. "Guns were pulled out, and they shot my son five times in the chest and twice in the back," Landry said. She told FOX 13, her son never carried a gun.
Local perspective:
More than a year later, his murder is still unsolved, which is why she’s now calling on the community to help take action.
"I never knew that families had to provide funding for advanced DNA testing if the city does not have the funds," Landry said. She would like that DNA testing to be used in her son’s case, especially after she heard about how Renton Police solved a 31-year-old murder case with DNA evidence last month.
"I want the advanced DNA testing to take place," Landry said. "I want the funds that cities have to be used for those reasons, and they don't need to be allocated for just sexual assault cases, they need to be allocated for any time someone loses their life."
What you can do:
In the meantime, she is turning her pain into purpose. Landry started a non-profit, Just/Us Love Ones, which honors her son and provides therapeutic services for siblings of murdered victims.
As she waits for justice, she has a message for whoever is behind her son’s death. "You harm my child, you killed my child, you shot my child down in the street, you do not deserve another holiday out on these streets to harm somebody else's child, you do not," Landry said.
There is a GoFundMe to help raise funds to pay for the advanced DNA testing. You can find it here.
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