Recent Stories

“I went over there in the park on Mother's Day to see my friend… we called him Sonny… we know him as Sonny, but his real name was Frank Carmichael (Jr.)… and I went over there to wake him up because the church was feeding on Mother's Day, and we sat over there, and we ate together and talked. So, I told him I will come by the next day, that Monday, and check on him. So when I went back over that way that Monday, and it was getting close to lunch time to see him, I seen it roped off with yellow tape, and uh, I asked somebody what happened with that… was hoping it wasn’t what I thought it was… my friend had been… Frank Carmichael (Jr.)… we called him Sonny out here… had been (murdered)… I went to the wake and you wouldn’t even recognize him if you didn’t know it was him… that’s how bad… you know, it’s sad that things like this happen…

I’ve been having restless nights ever since… I’m tired ma’am… ever since that happened, because you know, the danger of just going to sleep somewhere out here in the open, tryin’ to get you some rest… not bothering anybody, and it’s a cruel world out here…there’s no love hardly out here in the streets (pause). You have a few… but the young generation is like, they don’t have any care in the world, or respect for the elderly, or for themselves as a matter of fact…

I just want people to know that (pause)… we weren’t always homeless… just fell on some bad times. Like me, I have congestive heart failure, and just waiting on my disability. Sometimes it has something to do with drugs and things that they done went through in life or because depression, but we are somebody. Don’t look down on a homeless person because they might ask you for something… you know, you never know what they’re going through. You know? Because everybody needs somebody in life… even the rich man needs somebody to keep getting richer.

We just want to be loved… there’s a lot of mental illness out here, amongst the homeless community…but you know what? We lost somebody…”

“I was born and raised here in Fayetteville, North Carolina, so I’m technically a Fayetteville native. I’m a military brat, so I was born at Fort Bragg… my whole life I’ve been around the military, so it’s easy to see why the career I’m in now revolves around veterans and active duty service members. I work more in the education section, so I assist active duty service members and veterans in the evening program for Methodist University… I help in admissions and coordinating their schedules.

Behind all the ‘masks’ that I wear and everything I’m involved with in Fayetteville, I see that everyone has a story, and my story is finding justice for my brother (tearful)… sorry… umm… even working with the military, sometimes it’s hard because in the back of my mind I still think of my brother and how there’s no justice for him… but I still persevere and try to find strength and resiliency in helping the community, whether it’s with education or being a volunteer peer mentor for TAPS. TAPS is a tragedy assistance program for survivors, so I mainly help with gold star families. If they lose a service member, whether they were a veteran or active duty, they can seek out TAPS for someone to talk to. If they need resources for counseling, education, or financing, TAPS has a lot of resources to help our military community and it doesn’t matter how long ago the military member passed away. I volunteered for TAPS because of my brother… I found them a little over a year after he died, and they’ve pretty much saved my family and I (pause)… in our grief process… it’s a long journey. You don’t move on in life, you just move forward with your ‘new’… I guess you could say ‘new mask.’ It’s hard, but in my soul,  I feel I’m such a people person… I always want to help others and to this day I just keep pushing. Now I’m studying for a second master’s degree to get licensed in counseling so I can help future people through anything, but I specifically want to help military families.

Being in TAPS, they just ‘get it’… it’s being with family members who also lost someone who served. My first meeting was actually in Charlotte. They had a sibling’s retreat, so in a four-and-a-half-day retreat I got to meet other siblings who’d lost their loved ones (brother or sister), whether it was homicide, or suicide, or in war… we all connected. It’s easier to connect with people like that than talking to a regular counselor or someone who hasn’t had that same loss... pain. TAPS creates long-lasting bonds and like I said, they help with so much in the community. They’re trying to put at least near every base a TAPS care group. We actually have one here in Fayetteville that many people don’t know about. We meet the first Saturday every month. Not right now due to COVID, but there are Zoom meetings and if people have lost a loved one that served or was active duty at the time of their tragedy, they can go to TAPS.org and research their local care group or next meetings to help them through their grief journey.

Since 2017 when (my brother) was tragically killed in Raleigh, I felt like I needed to be his voice… his voice for justice, his voice to carry on… and try to pursue some the dreams HE still had. He was such a people person, always smiled BIG and the type of guy that was always there for others. That’s how my mom raised us, to always be a good person, hard worker, and still be there for other people. I just feel like when people look at my pin or see pictures online, they ask, ‘what’s your story?’ and ‘who’s that?’ I feel like if I keep sharing his story, people will know what type of good person he was and how I’m trying to live out his legacy to make him proud of me…(tearful)…

It’s hard… for my mom, I’m her only surviving child, so I gotta make sure she’s okay too, on top of trying to live my grief journey as well. We are a close family…  very close knit… my brother and I are both Puerto Rican and Panamanian. He always said we’re ‘Panarican’… in his terms we ‘came from the best of both worlds.’ We love Panama and Puerto Rico. He loved traveling and was very Latino… he loved salsa dancing and pulling people on the dance floor. He loved when Fayetteville would do the International Folk Festival every year. Me and my family are always down here for the festival representing and wearing our Panama and Puerto Rico stuff. A few years before he passed away we both walked for Panama… and every year we’d visit Panama. It’s where my mom’s from, so… it’s beautiful watching that parade, all the countries here (at the International Folk Festival).

Is there anything else you would want people who read this to walk away from your story with?

You asked me ‘what’s my story?’ My story is also my brother, Jose’s, story, because it is not done. I would ask the community to help me spread the word if you see my page or the reward flyer for him… a simple click and share could benefit it, because you never know who’s watching. If they have any tips or know who did it, maybe they’ll come forward one day. We’ve created a Facebook page and Instagram page seeking justice for him. I think sharing can also lead to someone who maybe could help the Raleigh PD if the army can’t fully help, like some outside resources can come help Raleigh PD run more forensics or seek more information as to what happened that morning…” 

To visit the ‘Justice for Spc. Jose Melendez, Jr.’ Facebook page, please click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/justiceforspcmelendezjr/

Please call Raleigh Crime Stoppers at 919-834-HELP with any information about this case.