Reward offered in Gulfport cold case murder

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - “My heart was broken,” said Charnique Jones. “I broke down. I can’t find words to express the feeling of losing a sibling. It just broke my heart. To this day, I still feel that pain. It never goes away.”

On January 13, 1999, Kevin Slater was murdered. While on his way to work, the military veteran and former Harrison Central football standout was found shot to death in his car at the intersection of Tandy Drive and Cora Circle in Gulfport.

More than two decades later, his sister, Charnique Jones, is still looking for closure.

“For what reason we do not know,” Jones said. “Kevin let them in the car with him as he was leaving out to go to work. Maybe two streets down from our home, they shot him and jumped out the car and ran.”

The siblings lived together and had a close-knit relationship. 23 years after the tragedy, Jones is continuing to fight for justice for her brother, now teaming up with Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers to offer a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading police to an arrest.

“I just wish that someone, regardless of how big or small the details are, would come forward and say something,” Jones added. “They not only took Kevin from this earth. They took him from his family.”

Jones said she’s forgiven her brother’s killer, but will forever be her brother’s keeper, not stopping until the cold case murder has been solved.

“I’m never going to forget, but I have to forgive,” Jones said. “I know that’s what he would have done. Forgiving does not mean we don’t want justice for him. We forgive you, but you have to serve your time for that.”

The Gulfport Police Department is the investigating agency. If you have any information to help investigators solve the case, you’re asked to call Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-877-787-5898.

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