NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio — 2024 marks another year of frustration for Carnell Sledge's family.
It’s been five years since he and Kate Brown were shot and killed while sitting on a bench at the Cleveland Metroparks' Rocky River Reservation. Family and friends are still waiting on answers.
"That's too long," his cousin Otha Diming tells 3News. "Our family is still grieving."
Amid their grief, Sledge's family comes together for a vigil each year on the same day he died to remember a person who they call "the glue" for their family.
"I remember him as being a fun-loving person," fellow cousin Latoya White said. "He was an amazing person, family oriented. He actually kept us all together. If it was anyone of us, he would've been doing the same thing for us as well."
Loved ones at the vigil describe sledge as someone who would do anything for anyone, which is why they're not surprised that he helped his friend Brown when she called and asked him to meet her at the park.
Shortly after parking, kayakers found their bodies near the river. He was supposed to meet his grandmother for dinner at the time is body was found.
"My baby never made it," Sledge's grandmother Audrey Posey lamented. "When my son-in-law told me, I lost it. I haven't been right since."
That hole in their hearts will never be filled, but the family is hoping for some relief that can only happen when the person who killed them is found. They're asking anyone with information to come forward.
"We're just trying to get some clues, answers, some closure, and give our family some peace," Sledge's younger brother Terrance Sledge said.
There's now a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to the successful identification and prosecution of those responsible. As WKYC previously reported, the reward money is comprised of $25,000 from the FBI, $5,000 from Crime Stoppers, and $70,000 from the Brown family for a total of up to $100,000.
Tips can be provided to the Cleveland Division of the FBI at (216) 622-6842, the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department at (440) 331-5219, or Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County at (216) 252-7463. Tips can remain anonymous.