A Detroit man is brutally killed at the park he loved and cared for. His heartbroken family wants justice for this callous crime.
Mike Cavanaugh loved Stoepel Park. There was a weeping willow tree he would sit under to take a nap. He would also listen to gospel music on his portable radio under the same tree. Sadly, that is also the place where he was brutally murdered in broad daylight.
“Just how much I really loved him, appreciated him,” said Kathy Johnson.
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That is what the victim’s sister would say if she could talk to her brother one more time. He left their house Monday after lunch to clean up Stoepel Park and take a nap. However, less than an hour after lunch Cavanaugh was dead.
“There’s nothing he could’ve done to somebody that could’ve made someone that angry, and I would like to know why,” Johnson said.
Cavanaugh was shot three times at the park, once in the head and again in the stomach.
Cavanaugh did not work, but his sister said he still had a very important job.
“He loved going to the park. He looked at it as being his home. He very much so cleaned it up all the time and was very angry with people that didn’t clean things up,” Johnson explained.
This is not the first time Cavanaugh was attacked by complete strangers. Ten years ago, he was jumped at a bus stop. He was in a coma for weeks and had permanent, severe brain damage.
Right now, police have few leads, but Johnson said she knows someone knows something.
“Please, we all have family members. We all have people that we love,” she said. “Please, please say something. Don’t just put a blind eye to it. Please speak up.”
Most people thought Cavanaugh was homeless because he slept in the park for hours and his brain injuries made him hard to understand, but Johnson said her brother had a heart of gold.
“He cared about Detroit and the neighborhood. He loved the Detroit Tigers, the Red Wings. He was a sports fan. He cared about people. He was a God loving person. He looked out for a lot of people. Loved animals. That’s who Mike was,” she told us. “I really would like to see the person that did this get caught and take responsibility, for it’s not going to bring my brother back, but it sure would help.”
