Chelsea Small murder: Family desperately seeks answers 8 years after mother of two killed at work

TAYLOR, Mich. – Chelsea Small was just 30 years old with a bright future ahead of her when she was murdered on the job in 2013.

Small was the mother of two young children. She was gunned down at her place of work on what was supposed to be her day off.

She was working Nov. 12, 2013, at the Advance America check cashing place on Telegraph Road in Taylor. Small’s mother, Debi Kamin, remembers every detail of that tragic day.

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“It’s just a difficult thing, they’re still your baby, it doesn’t change,” she said.

Small had switched shifts with a coworker so she could celebrate her son’s 5th birthday a few days earlier.

“She was raising two babies, working full-time, college full-time, when would she have time for enemies?” said her sister, Tiffany Small. “It’s destroyed every one of us.”

Tiffany remembers getting the call from police.

“I had that gut feeling when I arrived here something was wrong,” she said.

A man with a silenced gun walked in and shot Chelsea twice, killing her. He took a small amount of money, then took off.

“I just couldn’t believe my sister was gone,” said Tiffany.

That man -- seen here in these surveillance photos -- has never been identified:

“For eight years this person has been able to continue their life and we are still mourning our daughter,” said Kamin. “The way she died was very traumatizing to all of us.”

If robbery was the motive, why did the gunman shoot Chelsea first when she could have given him access to so much more cash? The bullets were put through a national database, but why weren’t any matches ever found?

Police have always believed the shooting wasn’t personal. Did Chelsea have any enemies? Her family says no. Perhaps what’s most painful is that Chelsea died on her son’s 5th birthday.

“The thing that keeps all of us going is that we want closure for her children,” said Kamin.

Not a day goes by that the family doesn’t think about Chelsea and pray that her killer is caught.

There is a reward being offered in this case that’s now up to $52,000 to anyone who has information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information on this murder should contact the Taylor Police Department -- 734-374-1420.