“Every day seems to get harder,” said his mother Prudence Mundy, with tears in her eyes. “He was just ripped out of our lives at 24 years old.”
Mundy was shot once in the leg at the corner of Rice and Josephine streets on June 15, 2015, police said.
Neighbors in the area reported hearing men arguing just before the shot rang out, Detective James McCutcheon said.
“We believe there were two men there with James and one fired a shot,” he said.
McCutcheon has been working closely with Prudence Mundy, who has pleaded on Facebook through her “Justice for James Mundy” page for anyone to come forward to help solve her son’s murder.
“I know (the shooter) has to be talking — people brag of what they do — and just getting someone just to say ‘Hey, this is what I heard,’ that might just be all we need to go and get them and put them away so they cannot do it again,” she said.
Even second-hand information — like if someone has overheard others talking about the murder — could be used in the case, McCutcheon said.
Police know there is the potential that witnesses fear retaliation, he said, but there are ways police can anonymously use information.
Witnesses coming forward is one is an important way police solve cases, McCutcheon said.
In December, an arrest was made in the 2013 shooting death of a Springfield man after a witness came to police with information. That alleged shooter is now awaiting trial.
James Mundy’s murder was one of 13 homicide cases in the city of Springfield in 2015. His and one other case remain open, and suspects in the other deaths have been arrested or convicted.
Last year was the city's most violent for murder and gun crimes in more than a decade.
So far in 2016 Springfield police have only investigated one homicide and a shooter has been arrested, convicted and sent to prison in that case.
Clasping a necklace she wears around her neck with the ashes of her son, Prudence Mundy said she prays the violence in the city stays calm.
“I’m praying because no other family needs to go through this,” she said.
Along with her social media push to gather any information about her son’s death, Prudence Mundy said she continues to put out fliers and go door-to-door in the Rice Street neighborhood.
As part of their family gathering to remember James on the anniversary of his death on Wednesday, the family released balloons with a messages attached about seeking information in his murder. The family included the link to their “Justice for James” Facebook page.
McCutcheon said homicide detectives become close with the families of the victims and he would love to see the Mundy family get some closure.
“It would be the best day for me at work when I can call (Prudence) and tell her we’ve arrested someone,” he said.
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