The family got the call from detectives yesterday with news that witnesses had come forward and identified Hadiyah McIver's murderer. The arrest renewed hope in this family that justice will be served.
"We knew this day was coming, we just didn't know when," Hadiyah's grandmother Catherine Grady said.
So for five years and four months, the family of Hadiyah waited and hoped someone would finally be held responsible.
When Action News first met the family in 2005, it was soon after they lost 21-year- old Hadiyah. She had a new son, Zymeer, who would now grow up without either parent; his father died from juvenile diabetes a month before his birth.
Today, Zymeer is learning how to jump rope and is getting ready to start kindergarten next year.
"I thank God for him. I see his mother in him every day," Hadiyah's mother Tonya Ruffin said.
It was March of that year, surveillance cameras captured Hadiyah crossing the street near Temple University's campus with a friend around 2:00 a.m. Shots rang out in a nearby alley and a bullet hit her in the head. She would take just two more steps before collapsing.
"It was mistaken identity when she got shot. She was not the target," Grady said.
Then, yesterday, 27-year-old Antoine Moye was arrested for her murder.
Detectives told the family Moye was already in prison.
"I've been wanting to see his face. I want to look in his eyes. Anything I ever could ask him wouldn't suffice. An answer wouldn't be good enough. I would like to say, why, why did you kill my child?" Ruffin said.
The family recognizes this is an arrest, not a conviction, but just knowing that detectives haven't given up has brought them peace.
"I can finally go and talk with her. It's been hard for me to go to the cemetery. But now I can tell her it's going to be a long road, but we're in the process," Ruffin said.
It's a process the family says they will keep a close eye on. Moye's preliminary hearing is next week and Hadiyah's family says they'll be there every step of the way to make sure justice is served.
