Thirteen years have passed since Chelsea Small was shot and killed during a robbery at a check-cashing store in Taylor, Michigan, yet her family remains without a final answer. The incident occurred on November 12, 2013, when the 30-year-old employee was working alone at the Advance America location on Telegraph Road. According to Taylor police, a man entered the business, fatally shot Small, and fled with cash and a folder containing unknown contents. To date, the person responsible for the crime has never been identified.
Tiffany Fetter, Small’s sister, describes the profound emotional toll the loss has taken on her family. The two women were close friends and roommates at the time of the shooting. Fetter expressed that the years since the tragedy have not made the grief any easier to bear. She stated that losing her sibling in such a sudden manner tore her apart, and she remains deeply frustrated by the lack of closure. Fetter noted that she effectively lost her best friend on that day, a feeling that persists despite the passage of time.
Small was a mother of two at the time of her death. Although her children are now adults, Fetter said the family continues to feel the significant impact of losing their matriarch. The unanswered questions surrounding the crime are a constant presence in the family's daily life. When asked what she would say to the person responsible for her sister's death, Fetter focused on a single question, asking why the suspect chose that specific place and day to take an innocent life.
Detectives from the Taylor Police Department have worked diligently on the case for over a decade. Lieutenant Joshua Schneider explained that investigators have followed hundreds of leads over the past 13 years, yet the case remains unsolved. A major hurdle in the investigation is the limited amount of physical evidence available to the team. Schneider noted that there is very little material to test for DNA, suggesting the suspect may have been wearing gloves. Additionally, no fingerprints were recovered from the scene, and the available video footage is described as very grainy, making identification difficult.
Despite these investigative challenges, police officials believe that someone in the community may still hold valuable information. The investigation team is renewing its appeal to the public, operating on the theory that the suspect may have discussed the crime with others over the last thirteen years. Schneider suggested that the individual might have bragged about the situation in a bar, mentioned it to colleagues at work, or even confided in a family member about what they did.
The Taylor Police Department is asking anyone with information about Chelsea Small’s killing to reach out to them. Lieutenant Schneider emphasized that no tip is too small and that every piece of information could potentially help move the case forward. The family and investigators hope that this renewed push will finally bring them the answers they have been seeking for more than a decade.
