Late on a Monday night in September 2011 a house fire at the corner of West Chicago and Petoskey on Detroit’s west side revealed more than flames. Firefighters found the body of a man later identified by family as Robert Lee Nix; Detroit homicide detectives determined he had been shot. Nix had been staying in the otherwise vacant residence and had survived an earlier shooting about three weeks before, which he told his older brother Nathan Nix was a case of mistaken identity.

Family and neighbors described Robert as not someone who got into trouble and expressed bafflement and grief over why he would be targeted. Detroit Police opened a homicide investigation, but the case has since gone cold with no public announcements of arrests or identified suspects. The person or persons responsible remain unknown.

If anyone knew Robert, his routines, or who might have been near West Chicago and Petoskey that night, please share information with Detroit Police.