Dallas mother still searching for answers more than a year after her 14-year-old son's murder

Dallas mom looking for answers after son's murder

The mother of 14-year-old Manuel Edwards, who was shot multiple times and left to die in a South Dallas vacant lot in 2022, is making a plea for someone to come forward on the day that would have marked his 16th birthday.

DALLAS - The mother of a 14-year-old who was shot multiple times and left to die in a South Dallas vacant lot in 2022 is making a plea for someone to come forward on the day that would have marked his 16th birthday.

Cynthia Edwards’ voice cracks with emotion as she mourns and misses murdered son, Manuel Edwards, who was her only child.

"[Thursday] made 16 months that my son has been gone. We still haven't got justice and [Friday], it marks his 16th birthday," Edwards said.

Birthday balloons and red spinner sunflowers mark the spot in a South Dallas vacant lot where the 7th grader was shot multiple times back on September 25, 2022, just a few yards from his home.

"I just don't understand how the people sleep at night knowing that they killed someone. I really don't, that's what's really tearing me up on the inside too because I can't sleep at night," Edwards added.

Anonymous tips led to the arrests of three men on capital murder charges, but the district attorney's office determined more evidence was needed to move forward.

Charges were dropped in February 2023.

"Can somebody please come forward and talk please because I need justice. I need justice. It's hard, it hurts every day," Edwards said. "I don't want my baby case to be a cold case. I don't want that."

And Edwards doesn't want another mother to know the pain she lives with.

"We don't need no more violence. We don't need no more young people getting killed. It's hard on these people's parents," she said.