The family of an 8-year-old boy who was brutally murdered while playing outside an Alexandria home 14 years ago is afraid his killer could walk free.
Kevin Shifflett was playing outside his great-grandmother's Del Ray home in April 2000 when police say Gregory Murphy -- 33 years old at the time -- approached Kevin and stabbed him 18 times.
"He was a kid playing on spring break," Kevin's sister Heather Huntington told News4 this week. "He wasn't hurting anybody ... so why [was he stabbed]?"
Murphy was arrested shortly after for the stabbing, but every time he's gone to court, he has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Fourteen years later, doctors say Murphy cannot be made competent to stand trial in Kevin's death.
Because of that, defense lawyers want to drop criminal charges against Murphy, commit him to a mental institution and have the case handled civilly.
Huntington is scared Murphy could harm someone else if he's freed.
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"This man might be set free, he might be on your street, with your child, and the same thing might happen," she said. "I know there's a lot of 'ifs' and 'maybes' but there's always that chance."
