AURORA, Colo. – Six years after a man was shot and killed on Christmas Eve in Aurora, his family is left wondering who killed him and why. And they are doing everything they can to try and find his killer.
Damon Weyrough was shooting pool at Rack ‘Em Billiards and Sports Bar that night with friends before he was to go to his aunt’s house to celebrate Chrismas Eve. But someone killed him before he would ever arrive.
The details of his death and of that night – Dec. 24, 2013 – are still difficult for his cousin, Tania Taylor, to re-live.
“He and some friends were out shooting pool. They left the pool hall, walked into the parking lot and three people approached him,” Taylor said.
She says whatever happened next happened fast.
“Some words were exchanged,” Taylor said. “As he walked away, they shot him in the back.”
Taylor says Wayrough’s friends said he died in the parking lot – taking his last breath as they loaded him into the car.
Taylor says she and her family received word that he had died on Christmas morning, and that the holiday has not been the same since. She calls that day the “worst Christmas” of her life and said the family doesn’t celebrate it much anymore because of the reminder.
The family has tried many avenues to try and figure out who killed Wayrough. They raised money to take out ads at bus stops and hired a private investigator.
“Nothing came from that,” Taylor said. “Nothing came from any of the interviews. Nothing. Just nothing.”
Aurora police spokesperson Crystal McCoy told Denver7 the case is still open as a cold case investigation but said no detectives or anyone else involved in the case were available to discuss it.
Taylor still wonders about whether surveillance video captured her cousin’s killers. But so far, it hasn’t led to a suspect.
“I think that’s the worst part for me, personally, just to not know what happened,” she said.
Wayrough had two children, and Taylor says she wants answers for them and for his mother, along with the rest of the family.
“That is my prayer daily – that we get answers to his murder before my aunt leaves this earth,” Taylor said.
While she waits, she says she’ll always remember her favorite cousin — his jokes, his smile, the way he would stop by her house to check in.
“He’ll never be forgotten,” Taylor said. “As long as there’s breath in my body he will never be forgotten.”
