SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. -- The family of Brandy Maples is pleading for answers on the six-year anniversary of her murder.
Santa Rosa County Crime Stoppers is upping the reward to $9,500 to help.
Channel 3 spoke to Maple's niece, Autun Hinnant, who walked us through the painful day she learned about her aunt's death.
"Growing up, we were almost like sisters," Hinnant said. "We were only two years apart,"
Hinnant told Channel 3 she and her aunt Brandy Maples even shared the same middle name.
"For the longest time, I thought we were sisters, and I thought we were twins," Hinnant said. "I mean, it didn't help that they dressed us alike too."
Hinnant remembers her as a loving, tough, and brave woman -- even up to her final days in January of 2016.
"She called me, and was like -- 'have you seen the news? I think it might be Brandy," Hinnant said.
To this day, Hinnant is still choked up about her aunt's murder.
"At first I was like, 'No, it can't be,'" Hinnant said.
But it was. Deputies found the mother of four with several gunshot wounds -- one of them to the head.
Channel 3 asked Hinnant if she had any idea in her mind why someone would do such a thing.
"I couldn't fathom it," Hinnant said. "I mean, she didn't live a clean life, but at the same time, she was always, you know, careful. It was never anything that anyone in our family could imagine."
Channel 3 spoke to Sgt. Rich Aloy about the investigation into Maple's murder.
"There is no perfect investigation," Sgt. Aloy said. "There is no perfect crime. And that's why someone has to know something. Maybe they don't want to be identified, they're afraid to be identified, and maybe they need the money,"
Both Maple's family and investigators hope an arrest will finally bring closure.