Family Mourns Michael Rolle, Student Who Was Abducted In Country Club Hills, Murdered, Had Body Dumped On South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- While many people spent the day Tuesday preparing for Christmas, a Lansing family spent Christmas Eve preparing for a funeral.
They are the loved ones of a young man found dead on the Far South Side.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reported, the mother, two sisters, fiancée, and godmother of a college student who was murdered, and had his body dumped, gathered to talk gathered to talk about a young life lost.
Michael Rolle, 23, was the oldest of six siblings.
"My knees went weak and my heart just dropped," said Taryn Wilson, Rolle's youngest sister. "He was always there for me when I needed somebody the most."
But now he can't be, because on Thursday afternoon, the Parkland College sophomore was abducted in south suburban Country Club Hills.
His killers then tied him up and beat him with a blunt object.
Rolle was barely alive when they dumped him half naked under a viaduct at 93rd Street and St. Lawrence Avenue.
"Why, just why? Why him and why now?" Wilson said.
Rolle was engaged to his fiancée, Jada Siler, for more than a year. She was too distraught to talk.
So Rolle's sister spoke on Siler's behalf.
"Jada was his world," said sister Trinity Wilson.
Because for Rolle, family came first.
"His family was his main concern," Trinity Wilson said. "He didn't care about nothing else but his family."
But now, the family gatherings that Rolle so looked forward to will be dominated not by his presence, but his absence.
"I couldn't ask for a better godson," said Rolle's godmother, Nicole McFerren. "He lived with me and my son, and I just - I've been in the window looking; waiting for his car to pull up."
What adds to the pain is the fact that Michaels murder comes almost exactly a year after McFerren's nephew was shot dead.
"I want justice," she said.
"I want my son back, but I know I can't have him back. Justice would do me fine," added Rolle's mother, Patrice Rolle. "So please, whoever you are – let us know. Turn yourselves in. We need that. We really need that."
Police said a 25-year-old man reported that he was abducted along with Rolle.
He also said Rolle was murdered and dumped from his vehicle.
That vehicle was later found in Country Club Hills.
So far, though, according to Chicago Police, no one was in custody as of Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Rolle's family has set up a drive for a memorial fund on GoFundMe.