ESSEX, Va. (WRIC) — A Virginia family is still looking for answers after their loved one was killed 17 years ago, and the case has since gone cold.
On April 1, 2006, a driver on Route 17 in Essex County found 32-year-old Steven Lee Parker lying in the middle of the highway. The cause of death was determined to be repeated head trauma.
Police initially believed they were dealing with a hit-and- run case, but that quickly changed when they further examined the cause of death. Parker only suffered injuries to his head and not the rest of his body, which indicated a homicide.
Parker’s family sat down for an exclusive interview with 8News a decade ago when they were concerned his case was going cold.
“It’s like an unsolved mystery, we don’t know what happened,” Bonnie Parker, Steven Lee Parker’s sister, said in her initial interview with 8News. “It’s kind of unbelievable that it’s been this much time and still nothing.”
Now, years, later, they are still looking for answers. Bonnie Parker and her family spoke with 8News for the second time with the same pleas.
“We just think that someone knows something,” Bonnie Parker said.
Amy Parker, Steven Lee Parker’s sister-in-law, said she was shocked and in disbelief when she first heard the news in 2006, and that feeling has only grown over time.
Now that they are working with a new investigator, the family is hoping to heat up this cold case.
They family has also increased their reward amount from $5,000 to $10,000 and have created a banner to place on Route 17 in the hopes that someone who knows something will say something.
“There’s other people who know, and those are the people that I’d like to say, ‘Why don’t you come forward with just something?’” Amy Parker said.
Virginia State Police is asking anyone who may know what happened to Steven Lee Parker to give them a call at 804-609-5656.
More information about Virginia cold cases is available online at the Virginia State Police cold case database website.