Family of man who was killed 9 years ago wants closure

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    SAGINAW, Michigan (WNEM) — A cold case nearly a decade old remains fresh in the memory of loved ones of a man shot and killed in Saginaw.

On April 10, family and friends marked the anniversary of Joseph Hasse’s death. Nine years later his family is still is asking what happened and why.

Joseph Hasse is remembered by his family as a bit of a goofball. He loved to fish and hunt.

Most of all, this hard-working 26-year-old loved his family.

“It didn’t matter what family event it was, he was going to be there,” said his cousin Sabrina George.

Every holiday his family tries to do the things Joe liked to do.

His aunt Paula George and her daughter Sabrina said not a day goes by where they don’t think of Joe and wonder what happened?

The last update in the murder was nine years ago when Paula George says the case went cold.

Joseph had just gotten off work and he was returning to his home on the 1100 block of Division Street on Saginaw’s west side. That’s when he was shot and killed and nine years later, his murderer has never been caught.

“It’s only fair that we learn what happened and why. The biggest thing is to know why. Because of the person he was. He would’ve done anything for anybody,” Paula George said.

Saturday was the anniversary of Hasse’s death. Every time it comes around his family lights off a Chinese lantern in his honor and they pray that somebody will step forward with information.

They believe a lot of people living along division back then heard the crime.

“Even a girl I went to school with who lived around the corner said she had heard the shots. And she heard somebody walking by on the phone saying, ‘the deed is gone’,” Sabrina George said.

The Georges hope somebody will see this and speak up.

“We just want justice for Joe. We need some kind of closure; we have a body but no reason why,” Paula George said.

Anyone with information about Hasse’s death can call Saginaw Police or Crime Stoppers.

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