Every day is a "battle" for parents of murdered children. A group in Pittsburgh won't give up on justice.

Parents in the Pittsburgh area have started a group for people like them who have lost children to gun violence and whose cases are unsolved. 

While the killers of their kids remain free, the families give each other mutual support and meet with detectives and district attorneys' offices to keep their cases current. The members of "Families for Justice" say they believe they'd find justice if witnesses did the right thing. 

Grieving an unsolved homicide

To parents who have lost a child to gun violence, there is no such thing as closure. They are haunted by the awful knowledge of how their beloved suffered in their final hours and minutes of life. 

Those parents live with the daily torment of knowing the person or persons responsible have not been brought to justice, even though their identities are likely known to investigators.

"Probably 80 percent of these cases could be solved if witnesses would come forward," said Cathy Welsh, who lost her son to gun violence. "They know who, the streets know, the families know. People know who committed these murders."

Seeking the modicum of peace justice would bring drove these parents to form "Families for Justice," which is part support group and part advocacy alliance. It's comprised of dozens of families brought together in grief, many of whom say investigators know who killed their son or daughter but don't have enough evidence to make an arrest and get a conviction.

Parents like Rick Lewis, whose son Jason Lewis was shot to death six years ago outside a social club in Braddock. There have been no arrests. The bar was full of friends and other witnesses, but so far, no one has come forward.

"I can't see how anyone, any decent human being could live with this," Rick Lewis said. "How could their consciousness allow them to live with this, knowing that they know what happened and they do nothing."

Witnesses in unsolved crimes 

More and more, investigators depend on technology, including surveillance cameras, license plate readers and DNA, to solve homicide cases. However, when those things aren't available, witnesses are most needed. 

Homicides are down, and clearances are up, but of 265 homicides in Allegheny County over the past five years, 69 remain unsolved. Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent Vic Joseph said many would be, if witnesses did the right thing.

"It is very frustrating for our detectives," Joseph said. "They put their heart and soul into these investigations, but as frustrating as it is for our detectives, the families that are left behind, the frustration that they have, the sadness they have."

Parents in the group meet with the detectives and the DAs to keep their cases current. They plead with witnesses to come forward and, perhaps most importantly, give each other mutual support.

"When you're in this process, sometimes you go through it alone," said Barbie Samson, who lost her daughter to gun violence. "You don't have other people who understand what it's like to lose a child or a loved one to gun violence."

Their fight for justice is the goal, but their grief is a journey that has no end point or destination. They now depend on each other to carry on.

"When you're around like-minded people who truly and honestly know what you're going through, it helps you," Rick Lewis said. "It helps you get through each and every day because each day is a battle. We literally fight to get through every day."