Mom searches for justice in her son's murder in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Sometimes, Kimberly Howerton forgets her son Kyron is gone. She'll want to hear his voice again, or she'll think about work she needs done around the house.
And then she'll catch herself, and it hits her again: someone shot and killed Kyron last year, and his killer is still at large.
"I never imagined that I would have to live out the rest of my life without my son," Howerton told CBS3 Mysteries.
It's easy to remember the good times.
"Remembering is easy," Howerton said. "It's the time I forget that he is gone that I hurt the most."
Kyron Howerton, 24, was known as a momma's boy. He was a hard worker, the youngest of four children. He remodeled homes.
"A hard worker: a wonderful father, a wonderful son," Howerton said.
Kyron was near his grandmother's home in Germantown on Marion Street near West Ashmead Street early in the morning of Aug. 31, 2021, when family heard shots ring out. His mother raced out of bed half asleep.
"I get up, I'm running downstairs, I'm looking all through the house, I'm looking in the yard," Kimberly Howerton said.
She remembers walking outside, calling for Kyron, and seeing police.
"I still had my phone in my hand calling his number," Howerton said. "And she said 'well are you calling his phone?' And I said yes, and she said 'well, there is a cellphone on the ground. It's lit up and it's saying mom.' She didn't say it, but the look, I knew it was him."
Kyron leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, his loving family and so many memories.
"I crave a conversation with him, just to hear his voice," his mother said. "His favorite saying was 'good jawn.' He'd always say 'that's a good jawn mom, that's a good jawn mom.'"
Kimberly loves the memories of her son. But sometimes, "there's times I would forget he is gone."
"I needed something fixed and I'd be 'Oh, let me call Kyron," Howerton said, "and it's like, I'll catch myself."
Kimberly says her son's killing may have been a case of mistaken identity. She is desperate for information. She wants to forgive, and move on.
"What I feel every day, I don't wish that on any other mother," she said. "Yeah, they took his life, but they still have family that love them and need them too."
If you have information on the August 2021 murder of Kyron Howerton, call Philadelphia police at 215-686-TIPS.