GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The reward has increased for anyone who provides information leading to an arrest in the October death of a man outside a shuttered Grand Rapids church.

On Monday, Silent Observer said the reward increased to $5,000 for tips pleading to the person or persons in the murder of Santino Ysasi.

Ysasi, 46, died Oct. 19 behind the now-closed Saint James Catholic Church on Bridge Street NW on the city’s West Side. He was experiencing homelessness at the time and often spent his nights behind the church.

Raquel Ysasi-Huerta, Santino’s aunt, said the family is hopeful the increased reward will help generate new leads in the case.

“We just want facts. We just want to know who did it and why they did it,” Ysasi-Huerta said. “Yes, Tino happened to be on the streets but he wasn’t a homeless person because he had a family. Everybody checked on him, everybody went to go see him. He was just going through a rough time.”

Santino Ysasi’s younger sister Christina Miller put up the funds for the higher reward.

“She was bound and determined that she wanted that reward to be higher and she took it all upon herself to do what she needed to do to get it raised and she contacted Silent Observer,” Ysasi-Huerta said.

Earlier this month, the Grand Rapids Police Department released images of a person of interest in Ysasi’s murder. The video and photos show the last person who was in the area before Ysasi died.

“Could (the video) come out earlier? Probably,” Ysasi-Huerta said. “Yes, maybe not four months later, the time frame that it was. But (would it have) had it helped in the beginning? I don’t know that it would have because the video’s not the greatest video. It’s kind of shadowy.”

Though the video is not very clear, the family is hopeful it will help investigators and someone will come forward with answers.

“If somebody out there knows something, you need to step up,” Ysasi-Huerta said. “You need to let us know, you need to reach out because we’re not going to stop. We’re going to continue to look, we’re going to continue to seek justice for Santino because he deserves it.”

Anyone with information about the person of interest is asked to call GRPD at 616.456.3380 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.