Sunday marks three years since the road rage shooting death of Chris Murzin.
The beloved University Park father’s killer is still on the loose, but maybe not for long.
His unsolved murder has a new Dallas Police Department cold case detective, and Murzin’s widow has created a foundation assembling experts in the intelligence and law enforcement community to find and fund additional tools to help in this and other unsolved homicides.
A bronze plaque honoring Chris Murzin’s life and legacy welcomes visitors near University Park’s Coffee Park-accessible playground. Murzin helped make it a reality.
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The park brings back bittersweet memories for Murzin’s wife, Christina.
She thinks of the times her husband visited with their son with special needs, Jack, and of Murzin’s effort to revamp the park, ensuring playground equipment was accessible to children of all abilities.
While the family has been able to accept their sudden loss, there are moments when his absence is especially felt.
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His daughter Caroline felt it last weekend when it was ‘Dad’s Weekend’ on her college campus.
“There’s always things that come up that really hit home that he was stolen from us and it’s not fair,” said Murzin.
It happened at around 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, the day of the unrelated deadly pileup in Forth Worth and the beginning of a historic cold snap in North Texas.
Murzin was driving west on I-20 in Dallas, just before the South Polk Street exit.
What exactly led to road rage is still not clear, but detectives believe Murzin engaged with another driver in a back-and-forth.
One 911 caller reported aggressive driving on both parts until the driver of the other vehicle drove up to Murzin’s driver’s side and opened fire, killing the 53-year-old.
Murzin’s murder case has gone cold, meaning leads have been exhausted.
Last September, Dallas police moved the case to its Special Investigations Unit, which investigates cold cases, among other incidents.
Detective Brian Fillingim is now leading the homicide investigation.
“I believe a majority of cases can be solved,” he said. “This one is a bit challenging simply because of the circumstances surrounding it.”
The challenges include a lack of video surveillance images of the suspect before, during, and after the shooting.
Fillingim confirms police were able to recover a bullet fragment belonging to either a 9mm or a .380 pistol.
Unfortunately, Fillingim says, 9mm pistols are about the most common guns used on the streets of Dallas.
It appears the best piece of evidence at this point continues to be a grainy surveillance image of the suspect’s vehicle released by Dallas Police.
It’s believed to be a white or silver GMC Terrain, model year between 2010 and 2017, with trim model SLE or SLT.
Searching through vehicle registration and sales records is ‘tedious’ work.
There are over 1,000 GMC Terrain models in DFW alone, he added.
“We did have one lead. I actually went to a dealership, but it didn’t pan out like we wanted it to,” said Fillingim.
Although he cannot divulge more details, Fillingim says he’s focusing on emerging technologies and new investigative tools in his quest to find Murzin’s killer.
“We need more information,” he said.
He’s also pleading for information from the public. Perhaps someone overheard a friend or family member mention the shooting or sell a similar SUV in the days after the shooting.
Asked what kind of person he believes is behind the cruel act, Fillingim says they are maybe dealing with one of two kinds of people:
“Some of them, emotions pull on them where they struggle dealing with it. Others are cold-hearted and don’t think twice about it,” he said.
The problem is, they don’t know which kind of person they’re dealing with.
In an effort to help find her husband’s killer, Murzin gathered her many resources and contacts to create The Chris Murzin Foundation.
“So that we can help families like mine,” she said.
The foundation, which depends in part on donations from the public, aims to seek out the latest techniques, technology, and data-gathering companies to help solve homicides.
“These companies have all this information that we know can help solve crime, but at this point, are not partnering with police,” said Murzin. “It’s very expensive, and law enforcement is in a tough situation. They’re short-staffed, underfunded..”
The foundation’s goal is to bridge any gap between high-tech companies and law enforcement so that more crimes can be solved.
Murzin’s case will kick off the effort, but she says she is determined to help families who have also been left without answers or peace.
“Why not help others,” questioned Murzin. “Chris was always helping others and I knew that something positive had to come out of this that would not only help me but help others as well.”
She thinks back to three years ago and watching a mother plead for her son’s murder case to finally be solved after three years, thinking surely it wouldn’t take three years to solve Murzin’s case.
“And here we are. We are not alone,” she said. “It is a club you don’t want to be in.”
Adam Kraft is a senior advisor for the foundation and has experience in intelligence, both foreign and domestic.
The mission, he says, is to partner with or legally obtain digital forensics from companies that manufacture or organize data ‘so it can be usable and bring them to law enforcement.’
“Anything as simple as the data that comes from the seven Ring DoorBells behind you,” he said as an example. “The i-Count cellular devices, your watch, their watch, the sensors on the vehicles.”
Kraft is impressed with the network Murzin has created in her mission to find justice.
“It is as quick as a door knock, and we were there,” he said. “We were in front of some folks in Washington D.C., hundreds of different providers, federal officials, politicians, and recently, we were in front of senior leaders in the intelligence community.
Christina vows never to give up.
“I really want to find justice for Chris,” she said.
The Chris Murzin Foundation is in need of donations to accomplish its mission. For more information, click here.
Anyone with information on Chris Murzin’s shooting is urged to contact Det. Fillingim at 214-671-3617 or brian.fillingim@dallaspolice.gov.
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $47,500 for information shared with Crime Stoppers that leads to an arrest and indictment in this case. Case number 0253795-2021.
