More than three years after Stephen Halton was shot and killed on his way to work at the Cleveland Clinic, his family says valuable new information on the cold case could be slipping through the cracks.
Halton, 30, was an anesthesia technician and was called into work to assist in an organ transplant around 4:30 a.m. on January 11, 2014.
Halton was waiting at an RTA bus stop at East 156th Street and Lakeshore Boulevard when investigators say he was shot and killed on the sidewalk.
“When Stephen died, we died,” said Halton’s mother, Sheila Halton. “Because what we had as a family ended that day.”
The case soon went cold and they went years without hearing any new leads.
Then in January, someone reached out to them saying he had important information about their son’s case.
The family met with the tipster in person who gave them new details. News 5 is not releasing that information in an effort not to compromise the investigation.
The family says many of the details were corroborated by information that has never been released to the public.
“We were floored,” Sheila Halton said. “The things that they were saying make sense. They make sense.”
The Haltons said they immediately contacted investigators about the information. But more than seven months later, the tipster said he has still never given an official statement about what he knows.
“The system is not working at all,” Halton’s father, Stephen Halton Sr., said.
Halton said they offered to bring the tipster to the police station for an interview, but investigators didn’t follow up.
“If murder is not a high priority case, then what is?” Sheila Halton said, in tears.
A detective assigned to the case declined to comment. A Cleveland police spokesperson would not provide a statement about the status of the case, but said the information would be forwarded to the Homicide Unit.
The family said they realize that the information might not lead to a break in the case.
“But we think it at least deserves attention,” Sheila Halton said. “They don’t look at it as a person, it’s just another number.”
There is a $20,000 reward for any information that leads to finding Halton’s killer.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Cleveland police or Crime Stoppers at 216-252-7463.
