CLEVELAND, Ohio — For 32 days, the Ball family held onto hope, searching for 29-year-old Jordan Ball day and night.
"He said, 'Ma, I'm not going to be home today,'" Angelique Ball told 3News, recalling the last time she saw her son. "'I'm going outside. It's a nice day.'"
Angelique Ball said that was on Feb. 26.
"Everybody is hurting," brother Jason Ball said. "He looked out for us all."
According to the medical examiner's office, Jordan's body was found in the 1100 block of East 152nd Street last week in Cleveland, shot in the head with skull and brain injuries. His death is listed as a homicide.
"It's unbelievable. It's still not real," Angelique lamented. "I sit and I still wait for somebody to wake me up. Please wake me up, because this is not real."
Angelique says son was a fighter who overcame the odds time and time again. He had multiple open heart surgeries, the first one when he was just 2 days old. Then, when he was 21, he had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.
"And some coward shot a disabled young man in the back of the head," Jordan's aunt Jonetha Ali remarked.
This, unfortunately, isn't the first time the family has experienced tragedy in recent years.
"I lost one son already before him to a freak accident," Angelique said, "but this carries a different weight to it."
Despite Jordan's many challenges, his family says he always had a smile on his face, inspired others. and touched so many lives.
"Everybody who knew Jordan Ball knew that my brother was a loving person. They knew my brother was somebody they could call on," sister Brianna Ball noted. "He overcame so many obstacles in life. He had over 20 surgeries, traveled the world. They said my brother wasn't going to be able to make it, and he just wanted to live his life."
Jason Ball shared what made his brother special.
"Funny, always talking," Jason said. No matter what his struggle was, he always overcame it."
Now, the ball family is calling for justice, begging the suspect to come forward.
"Somebody just say something," Jason pleaded. "Seriously, he deserves it. He really does."
"I want justice for my son," Angelique said. "This isn't fair."