The family of a 35-year-old Washington, D.C., man who was found severely beaten in an alley before his death believes he was lured to an apartment where he was attacked.

The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is searching for the person or people who murdered Dalonte Jackson late last month. The agency is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

On May 24, around 4:30 p.m., police received a call to an area near 3300 East Capitol Street for a report of an unconscious person. Responding officers found a man, later identified as Jackson, unconscious but breathing normally and suffering from serious injuries.

Jackson was taken to a local hospital, but despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead five days later. An autopsy performed on June 3 revealed that he died from multiple blunt force trauma.

His death was ruled a homicide, and detectives determined that he was attacked at an apartment at 3600 Jay Street in Washington, D.C., about a nine-minute drive from where he was found.

Jackson's family, devastated by the loss of their loved one, shared their own theories about what happened.

“How can they take his body from this area to East Capitol Street and throw it away like trash?” Jackson's grandmother, Sharon Jones, told NBC regional affiliate WRC. “But someone, an angel, appeared there and called 911.”

Family members believe Jackson was lured to the apartment on Jay Street and then attacked. They even suspect he knew he was in danger, because he apparently sent a disturbing message to a friend.

"He sent them a message that basically said, 'I don't feel safe, and if... something happens, I'm with X, Y,'" said his aunt, Mottdricka Jackson.

A photo of the victim, shared by his family after the attack, showed him lying in a hospital bed with a neck brace, his eyes swollen and several tubes in his mouth.

“His skull was shattered, he was stabbed several times and he had a broken leg and arm,” Jones told the local media. “They beat him to death.”

Dalonte Jackson's family claimed to believe he was killed for being gay. However, the police stated that “there is no evidence to show that this was a hate-motivated incident.”