One year later, Aurora family pleads for info in disabled man’s death

AURORA | On a bright afternoon last spring, someone approached Terrell Ephriam and stabbed the mentally disabled teenager several times.

Then they left him to die on a foot bridge that is visible from Interstate 225 and a densely populated neighborhood northeast of the Anschutz Medical Campus.

And whoever did it is still free.

For Terrell’s family, the year since he was killed near East 28th Avenue and Wheeling Street has been a gut wrenching one.

Kathy Wiley, Terrell’s grandmother and the woman who found him mortally wounded that day, said she had to move from her home near where the attack occurred.

“It was just too much,” she said.

Still, Wiley, Terrell’s mother, Mary Jones, and the rest of his closely knit family are hopeful the killer — and anyone else involved — will eventually be caught.

“I’m not going to give up on my grandson and I want justice to be served,” Wiley said.

The family has been plastering fliers around the neighborhood where Terrell was killed in hopes that someone will come forward.

For police, the investigation has seen few positive developments despite a $4,000 reward for information.

“We did receive a few tips, however none of them led to a viable suspect,” said Aurora police Sgt. Chris Amsler, a spokesman for the department.

Amsler said Denver Crimestoppers is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the killer, and the department’s reward fund is matching that.

Still, even with $4,000 being offered, officers haven’t received the tip that will help them find Terrell’s killer.

“We are still hoping for the public’s help in trying to find this guy who murdered this poor young man and bring justice to him and his family,” Amsler said.

Jones said she understands that finding the killer won’t bring her son back, but she said it could help bring closure.

“I really want to know who killed my son,” she said.

Wiley said Terell, who had cerebral palsy, didn’t appear to have a disability just from his outward appearance. But when he spoke, his disability was apparent.

That lead to a life marked by regular bullying, she said.

There were days when Terrell would lock himself in his room because the bullying got to be too much, she said, but he could never bring himself to tell her who the bully was.

“It used to make me mad all the time,” she said.

Last year, the family speculated that Terrell’s slaying might have been a random attack, but Wiley said she now worries that it might have been a heinous extension of that bullying.

“I don’t know what it was,” she said. “But whatever it was, he didn’t deserve it.”

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact Crime Stoppers or Detective Matt Ingui at 303-739-6067.