Local

Father of Sanford cold case murder victim still looking for justice nearly 3 years later

The city of Sanford has seen a half-dozen shootings in the past couple of weeks, which have brought back painful memories for one man still waiting for justice in his son’s killing nearly three years ago.
Rodney Medlove traveled with Channel 9 reporter Len Kiese on Thursday to the spot where his son, and namesake, was found slumped over, dead  from a gunshot wound, inside a vehicle in 2015.
“That’s where he was lying up in the car,” Medlove said. “Right in this area, he was found dead.”
Police officers on routine patrol discovered Medlove’s 28-year-old son in the car on West 14th Street.
No calls to 911 had been made up to that point and Medlove said, even now, no one has come forward with any actionable information on his son’s death.
“They don’t want to come forward with certain things,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
In two apparently unrelated shootings in Sanford last week – one that left a man dead and another that injured a 16-year-old boy – no witnesses have come forward, police said.
Those recent shootings, and the similar lack of community help, have brought Medlove’s pain back to the forefront as he empathizes with the victims’ families.
“I miss my son,” he said. “If I can hear his voice one more time, I’d do anything in my power to do it. Just to hear his voice say, ‘Dad.’”
Medlove asked witnesses to put themselves in the place of hurting families with the hope that understanding the pain will prompt them to speak out.
For anyone who knows what happened but isn’t coming forward – in his son’s death or any of the recent shootings – Medlove said he assigns a share of guilt to them as well.
“For the people that know who did this, the blood is on your hands, too,” he said.
Len Kiese

Len Kiese

I am extremely excited to call Central Florida home.