A Mother’s Response
Each year on the anniversary of her son’s death, Abrakasa’s mother, Paulette Brown, returns to the site where he was gunned down to make sure he isn’t forgotten. Family members, city officials and police officers join in the annual tradition in Abraska’s honor.
In 2025, Matt Dorsey of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors introduced legislation bringing meaningful initial changes to the city’s homicide rewards system, including allowing rewards to be given for helpful tips even if they don’t result in a conviction.
Castillo explains there are two basic types of crime tip rewards programs: privately funded ones like Crime Stoppers, and those funded through local municipalities. Both prioritize protecting tipsters’ anonymity in order to reduce the fear of retribution.
“Typically, assigned detectives will approach their supervisors and go up the chain of command to go to their local city council and ask for a reward from either the city council or the county supervisors,” Castillo says. “The key for those awards to really work is the family has to be on board to do a press conference and come out publicly and ask for that person or persons that have any information to come forward.”
After Dorsey’s legislation passed, SFPD launched a “You Can Help, Too” campaign to raise awareness of the changes to San Francisco’s rewards program, and Abrakasa’s mother helped promote it.
“This campaign is about making sure every family knows their loved one’s case still matters and that someone out there may hold the key to justice. Our message is clear: if you have information that could help solve a homicide, we want to hear from you,” Dorsey stated in an official press release announcing the campaign.
In the same press release, Abrakasa’s mother said, “This new reward policy will help bring justice for our loved ones whose cases remain unsolved. My heartfelt thanks to Supervisor Matt Dorsey, the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Daniel Lurie for signing this important legislation into policy.”
Advocacy like Brown’s can make a huge difference in the success of a reward, especially in cold cases where fresh leads are needed.
“Not only is it powerful to motivate [witnesses] to do the right thing and call it in, but it also shows the family that the police department hasn't given up, and that the elected officials value their loved ones' life and that they mattered,” Castillo says. “So even if it doesn't result in action, it does show the family that we're doing everything we can.”
Measuring Success
It might seem that offering large cash rewards for tips could lead to an influx of nuisance calls from armchair detectives to psychics to people with a grudge against someone, but most police departments are prepared for the onslaught.
“That's why you have teams of detectives—you might have team A, team B and team C,” Castillo says. “Team C will get the those tips that don't appear very credible, but still can't be ignored.” Tips are prioritized and addressed based on those priorities. Some departments started using AI tools to help determine which leads hold the most promise.
Holding follow up press conferences each time an anonymous tip helps solve a case—and announcing that the reward was paid—additionally helps rewards programs succeed.
“When they have a success story of a case that was resolved by a tip, and they paid the money, they need to highlight that to build trust,” Castillo says. “Because sometimes people don't have faith in the police or faith in the system, and they think the rewards are just a ploy.”
Especially in decades’ old cases like Abrakasa’s murder, it’s vital to keep their stories in the public eye to draw in tips, or even spark memories of people who may have witnessed the crimes.
Abrakasa’s mother, Brown, advocates for all victims’ families. In 2025, she also partnered with the SFPD’s Homicide Detail and Crime Strategies Division to develop digital poster boards to display homicide victims reward bulletins at the district's station lobbies. Last year on the anniversary of her son’s murder, Brown publicized that partnership by handing out fliers about it and addressing the media.
Each August 14, at 3:00 p.m., when Brown returns to the corner of Grove and Baker streets where her son was killed, she’s more than remembering her child and sharing her loss: She’s making it clear that neither she nor the police have stopped searching for her son’s killer.
