Bailey's parents make plea for information

This Monday marked the six week anniversary of the shooting of Richard Bailey, in which there have been no arrests. On Nov. 17 the parents of the slain University at Albany student held back tears and pleaded with the public for anyone with information to tell the Albany Police Department.

"My son died and nobody knows why. We need closure," said Jim Bailey, a retired New York City police officer who was accompanied by his wife, Lisa.

"If there is anyone that might have any information, even the slightest bit, please come forward." "We just don't want people to forget," Bailey said, "because we are never."

The two came to Albany a month after their son was killed while walking home from a friend's house in the Pine Hills neighborhood of downtown Albany.

Richard Bailey, a 22-year-old UAlbany senior, was preparing to leave college and follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a police officer.

"Sure, I mean anybody would be disappointed. It has been a month now," Bailey said when asked if he and his wife were disappointed that more people have not come forward to help the police.

"There is good out there," he added expressing hope that someone will do something that will lead to an arrest. "That's my only plea, just somebody call."

The father described being told of his son's shooting as "the worst feeling in the world." He said it was late at night and a detective came to their door in Nassau County and informed them that their son had been in an accident and gave them a number to call.

"Shot?" he said, recalling his reaction to the person on the other end of the phone telling them about the incident. "I thought an accident, maybe a car accident, but shot?" Lisa Bailey, who wore a pin with her son's photo, said her son "absolutely loved Albany" and he "always had a smile, always could cheer you up."

"I'm very proud of it," she said referring to the pin she was wearing about organ donation. "Once we knew that he was gone I requested for him to be a donor. That was the only thing that kept me going in the hospital because he'll live on in somebody else."

"Life is precious," she said. "There are good people out there and we just have to remember that."

On the same day that the Bailey's spoke to reporters for the first time, APD released a still photo from a video camera on Ontario Street of an individual on a BMX bike.

APD Detective James Miller described the person seen in the photo as someone "we are looking to talk to."

Also in the same week, Victory Church's Pastor Charlie Muller announced that the reward money they were offering in Bailey's shooting, which started at $10,000, would be raised to $17,500.

Two days after the press conference with the Bailey parents, Miller said they received "numerous calls and e-mails to the Criminal Investigation Unit relating to the release of the surveillance video."