A protective personality for family and friends was the norm for Kyle teen Michael Mince.
Like many older brothers, Michael was protective of his younger sister, said Karin Mince, Michael’s mother. That and sports primarily his favorite team, the Texas Longhorns, were the two passions that fueled him.
“He was bullied a lot when he was younger,” Karin said. “He became everyone’s protector as he grew up.”
It wasn’t until after Michael’s tragic death in a still unsolved hit-and-run Dec. 26, 2016 that she realized just how protective her son was.
Stories of Michael calling friends to check on them at their lowest points emerged.
“He lived his life thinking everyone else in the world was good, to ... He never accepted there were bad people. He wanted to see the good in everyone.” Karin Mince
Karin, along with many family members and friends, hope the benevolence in people can finally lead to justice for her son.
Through the help of a gofundme account, Karin and others have crowdsourced $1,200 that will be offered as a reward for information leading to an arrest in her son’s case.
That amount is in addition to a $1,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.
Karin said the motive behind offering the reward was to reinvigorate interest in her son’s case. While she passed along potential leads from her Facebook page to police immediately after the incident, Karin said the leads are starting to “die down.”
Mince, 15, was killed when he was struck by a red Dodge Ram 3500 dually pickup truck while walking along FM 2001 near Niederwald. The pickup, according to authorities, had a welder in the bed and would have had right side damage and a missing side mirror.
But according to a Department of Public Safety spokesperson, there are currently no new leads in the investigation.
Karin said authorities have been very limited on information they have released to her because the investigation remains active.
She said they don’t want to provide details they are not ready to release.
“We’re still looking and we’re still vested in this,” Karin said. “We’re serious to find the person who did this.”
But for Karin and her family, finding justice is the goal as the investigation nears its third month.
Karin said she hopes the person “would have somewhat of a conscience” to give themselves up. However, she said the search has never “been about vengeance, never been about hate,” but to get answers and give her family peace of mind.
She wants answers for herself, as well as her two surviving children.
“It’s beyond me how someone could do something like that and not have any ill feelings,” Karin said. “Knowing what you have done. It’s in the news. It’s not like they don’t know. I’m not sure how they sleep and continue with their life.”
Even as she waits for justice to come, Karin remembers a son who wanted to have a job, find a wife, raise children and live a life “making people happy.”
“It’s sad to realize how wonderful we was,” Karin said. “Hearing all of the wonderful stories and lovely things he’s done for (friends), it’s amazing.”
