More than five months since her death, the family of Rasheeda Pegues says they still have no motive, no suspect and no answers.
“I don’t have any answers at all,” said Rasheeda’s sister, Tyesha. “She didn’t have any enemies.”
Back on Dec. 16, the 25-year-old woman was inside her apartment on the 200 block of Ferry Avenue in Camden, N.J. around 11 p.m. when police say she heard a knock on the door. When she answered, someone fired several bullets and then fled. Pegues stumbled into the parking lot of her complex where she was found dead by her neighbors shortly after.
“She was only 25 years old,” said her mother, Londa Coles. “As far as I’m concerned, she was still a baby.”
Family and friends describe Rasheeda as a hardworking, independent woman who battled Tourette’s syndrome as a child and was proud of her job at a Cherry Hill department store.
“Everybody loved her,” said Tyesha. “Everybody knew her.”
With her murder still unsolved, her family only has one question.
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“Why?” asked Coles. “We want to know the reason. Why?”
Investigators with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office have been working to answer that question but say it’s been difficult.
“People particularly in Camden are very uneasy talking about what they saw,” said Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Jason Laughlin. “They’re worried about retribution.”
Laughlin says he and other investigators have begun posting video profiles of unsolved crimes on YouTube, including Pegues' murder. Laughlin says embracing social media means the police can now recruit the victims’ families to help.
Credit: YouTube.com
“They’re sharing it with other people who knew the victim,” he said. “So you’re really able to precisely aim it at the people who are most likely to know something about the crime.”
Police are offering a $2500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible. If you have any information on her death, please email ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org or phone Investigator Lance Saunders at (856) 225-8513. Anonymous tips may also be submitted to the Citizens Crime Commission at (215) 546-TIPS.
