MORE: Springfield family wants justice for Huber Heights man found dead at park
The services will be the second time people who knew Holt will gather to honor him.
A few dozen people gathered on Southern Avenue this week for a vigil for Holt. People who knew him best said he was a good man who cared for his family.
“My nephew was beautiful,” Holt’s aunt, Susan Johnson, said. “He was a beautiful person.”
She said he didn’t deserve his death and they want justice in the case.
“They took his life, and as bad as it is, I feel like killing somebody about it,” she said. “But it’s not my vengeance, it’s God’s vengeance.”
Springfield police told the Springfield News-Sun they are continuing to investigate the case, but have not arrested anyone yet. Police are investigating Holt’s death as a homicide and are asking anyone with information to come forward.
His family wants to remember him as a caring person.
“Remember him as who he was. He was a good man,” Johnson said.
READ: Police investigating death of man found in Springfield park
Holt’s youngest son, Teryon Holt, said he will always remember his father.
“He took us to places so we can all play together,” he said. “He was a good one.”
Holt’s cousin, Gene Cameron, previously said his cousin was a family man and called for justice in the case.
“I love my cousin very much and I’m heartbroken over what happened to him,” he said. “All I can think about is what he went through that night. I know he was terrified.”
Just before Holt’s body was found, authorities in Huber Heights responded to a home on Shull Road where two boys, one being Holt’s 14-year-old son, had been tied up in a home invasion. The home had been ransacked, according to 9-1-1 calls.
“We want to try to have a good timeline and piece together where Mr. Holt was upon leaving that area home at 11 at night to when his body was found,” Springfield Police Chief Lee Graf said.
Springfield and Huber police are investigating both cases, but say they are unsure if they are connected.
EXTRA: Springfield police investigating homicide after body found
Holt has a past in Virgil Mabra Park, according to police records. In 2013, Holt was playing dice in the park — also known as Rose Park — when two men pulled up to his car, pointed a semi-automatic weapon at him, handcuffed him and made him get in the back of their car, police said at the time.
Investigators said the men eventually took thousands of dollars from a storage unit where they had taken Holt and abandoned him.
Holt’s murder is the fourth in Springfield since March. Graf said the department is fighting violent crime, but it is impossible to predict where the next incident might take place.
Holt’s services are at Restored Life Ministries, 1117 Innisfallen Ave.
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