JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For nearly 60 Jacksonville families whose loved ones were murdered last year, the grief and the loss were still fresh as they rang in 2015.
According to News4Jax records, there were 95 murders in 2014 and 57 of the murders being investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office remain unsolved.
One of the families looking for closure told News4Jax they won't rest until the killer is caught.
Not a day goes by that Jennel and William Martell don't think about Dustin Minarik, a 36-year-old single father who had full custody of his three children.
In March 2014, Minarik was shot and killed while moving his car while a house party was going on in his Southside neighborhood. Even though witnesses saw what happened, no one is talking to police. Jennel Martell had to break the news to Minarik's children.
"Holding them at night, telling them they won't see their father again was the hardest, explaining to them," Jennel Martell said. "I just stayed up with them until 6 o'clock in the morning, holding them. They were thrashing and crying. They were babies."
Minarik was one of 95 people murdered last year in Jacksonville, and the Martell family is just one of 57 families that don't know who's responsible for the crime.
"There's just too much going on in the city," William Martell said. "The homicide detectives are overwhelmed. It's crazy. The only people who can solve these crimes are the people themselves, and that's what needs to be done. It isn't about who told, but who shot and who died."
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said in cases like Minarik's where there might have been witnesses, many times the witnesses are afraid to talk in fear for their safety.
It's the reason why the group MAD DADS will be canvassing the Grand Park neighborhood Saturday, hoping to break the code of silence and bring the killers to justice.
"We have got to do something to take these killers off the streets," said MAD DADS founder Donald Foy.
Smith said in other cases, there just aren't any leads.
"Some cases just won't be solved," Smith said, "because you just don't have the witnesses or the evidence."