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Bench Ads Seek Help In Finding A Killer

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

TAMPA - When he was alive, 17-year-old Cedric 'C.J.' Mills loved to visit his grandmother Lucy.

Now Lucy Mills can see a photograph of the slain teenager smiling from a bench at a city bus stop at West Cypress Street and North Howard Avenue, less than two blocks from her home.

'I get a chance to see him,' Lucy Mills said Tuesday through tears. 'Just to see the smile on his face.'

The bench is one of four across the city that advertise a $10,000 reward for information in April's shooting death of the Jefferson High School football star, she said.

The others are at West Cypress Street and North MacDill Avenue, North Boulevard and Main Street, and North 50th Street and East Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Tampa police said C.J. Mills was in his driveway at 4219 W. Laurel St. at 6:20 p.m. on April 25 when a new, silver Chrysler Sebring stopped in the yard and two men approached, one firing once at Mills.

His family is 'upset and frustrated' that someone might know something relevant to the investigation but has remained silent, Lucy Mills said.

'I know that people know something, and they won't say anything,' she said. 'It's really sad when a human life is not worth enough for you to speak up. ... For nobody to speak up, it's hurting. My heart stays broken.'

Mills said her family is not frustrated with the police investigation because detectives have reassured them the case is a priority.

A family friend who works for the Jaycees, a leadership organization that handles advertising on the bus benches, obtained permission to donate the space to spread word of the reward, Lucy Mills said. The advertisements appeared about a month ago, she said.

Police said Tuesday that they have obtained no new leads from the bus-bench advertisements, but Lucy Mills is hopeful.

'I know it won't bring C.J. back, but it will bring him justice,' she said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at vkalfrin@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7800.

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