Family remembers Cierra Nelson on her birthday

FLINT (WJRT) -- (08/17/08)--A Flint family celebrated a painful birthday Sunday night while working to stop Cierra Nelson's murder from becoming a cold case.

10-year-old Cierra Nelson's body was found in a ditch back in 2001 but her murder remains unsolved. 

On what was supposed to be her 18th birthday, her family remembered her with an emotional birthday party.

And they still believe they will find her killer.

It was Thanksgiving weekend of 2000 when Nelson went missing.  Months later, her body turned up in a Mount Morris Township ditch.

The Nelson family has seen a lot of tears and Cierra's mother, Dorothy, has questions of her own.

"I want to know why you took her from me," she said.

This family has been waiting eight years to ask those questions.

"To me it seems like it's been longer because I miss her so much," said Cierra's cousin, Jacquella Nelson.  "She's in a better place, you know?"

"Just wish I was holding her hand," added her brother, Cedric Nelson.  "It's been a long time and we've got no answer.  But we're surviving right now.  Even when we let the balloons go, I felt that she was here."

Cierra's case is assigned to the Flint Violent Crimes Task Force.  If you have any information, give police a call.

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