Do you know who murdered Desiree D McGraw? On a Tuesday morning in June 2006, the partially clothed body of 27-year-old Desiree D. McGraw was discovered behind the Jericho Fire Company on Mail Avenue in Deptford, New Jersey. A firefighter making a routine check of the building's perimeter before the primary election polls opened made the grim discovery. An investigation revealed that the young mother of two had been killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head in what authorities deemed an execution-style slaying.
Desiree, who had grown up in Maple Shade and was a promising student and softball pitcher in her youth, had fallen into a difficult period in her life. She struggled with an addiction to drugs, including crack cocaine and heroin, which led to numerous arrests for drug offenses, disorderly conduct, and prostitution.
Her family recounted their desperate attempts to get her help, even wishing she would be kept in jail where they felt she would be safer than on the streets of Camden, a city she was known to frequent. Her father had tragically predicted that her lifestyle would lead to her being found dead in an alley. Just days before her death, in her last conversation with her father from jail, Desiree had expressed a desire to change her life.
In the years following her murder, Desiree's case grew cold, yet investigators and her family have never given up hope for justice. The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office has continued to actively investigate her death, eliminating some suspects along the way but making no arrests. Authorities have publicly stated that they believe she was killed at the location where her body was found and have not ruled out that the motive was drug-related, a belief strongly held by her family who suspect she may have stolen from a dealer.
The passage of time has brought further sorrow to Desiree's family. Her father, Fred McGraw, who tirelessly advocated for his daughter's case to remain in the public eye, passed away in 2012 without ever knowing who was responsible for her death. An $8,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Desiree McGraw's murder remains available, a standing plea from law enforcement for anyone with even the smallest detail to come forward and bring a measure of peace to a family still waiting for answers.
