Grieving relatives and friends of an 82-year-old Dallas woman are demanding an arrest in the woman's murder.
Dallas police had asked the public to help find Atreall Campbell's nephew after she was found dead in her home early Friday.
Campbell lived in the Joppa neighborhood near Interstate 45 and Loop 12 Trinity Forest Boulevard with her nephew, Algie Patton, a man with a long criminal history.
Patton was missing Friday when police found the woman's body, and her red Chevrolet SUV was missing, too.
Friends later found the SUV a few miles away at an apartment complex, and neighbors there said Patton had been at the complex that morning.
Police said they wanted to talk with Patton but that he was not a suspect in the murder. On Tuesday, Sr. Cpl. Demarcus Black said in an e-mail that Patton voluntarily reported to police headquarters to speak with homicide detectives on Saturday and then he was released.
“Homicide continues to have an open and active investigation into Ms. Campbell's murder. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Mike Yeric at 214-671-3677 or Dallas Police Homicide Unit at 214-671-3661,” the e-mail said.
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Patton’s Facebook page includes posts dated Monday saying “I am innocent” and “please pray for me and my family.”
Friends and relatives said Tuesday police need evidence to prove a case.
“Our community is outraged. Our seniors are outraged that this has happened right in our neighborhood,” said neighbor Claudia Fowler. “I plead with the police department, do your job find this killer and get him off of the street.”
The Rev. Ronald Wright, with the group Justice Seekers Texas, asked neighbors to help police.
“For the suspect to be on the loose for killing an 82-year-old woman, everybody in the neighborhood needs to be up in arms trying to figure out who did this to this woman so they can turn it in,” he said.
