NATCHEZ — Nearly eight months have passed since 24-year-old Bobby Butler was found shot to death in the roadway of Gardner Circle on New Year’s Day.

No arrests have been made in the case, a circumstance Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten, who took office three days after Butler’s death, attributes in part to a lack of cooperation from witnesses.

In the months since her brother’s death, Butler’s sister Dequita Jackson has found herself searching the faces of strangers for answers.

“We go in Walmart … and you don’t know who is who or who knows what,” she said. “That could be the person right there. I feel frightened.”

Jackson and her mother Sandy Larry made a plea Thursday for those who have information about Butler’s death to come forward and talk to police.

“Somebody knows something,” Jackson said. “People know stuff, and they just aren’t saying anything.”

Jackson and Larry last saw Butler alive on New Year’s Eve 2015, the day before he was shot. He was cheerful, excited for the New Year, and smiling as usual, Jackson said.

“I had texted everybody that night to tell them, ‘Happy New Year,’” she said. “He was the first one to text me back and wish me a happy New Year and tell me he loved me.”

The next day, some friends supposedly picked up Butler, and he ended up in the Broadmoor area.

The circumstances leading to Butler’s death are still unclear, but Jackson said she’s heard that her brother was shooting dice with others when a scuffle broke out, followed by at least one gunshot.

Sheriff’s office reports indicate Butler was shot once in the head with what appeared to be a .22 caliber gun.

When Jackson got word of the shooting, she hurried to the scene.

“When I got there, there were people just everywhere,” Jackson said. “It was like a parade was happening out there or something.”

When the ambulance left the scene with her brother, Jackson was the first one behind it, rushing so she could get to the hospital to ask him who shot him.

“When they got him out of the ambulance, when I saw my brother’s face, his eyes were rolled back in the back of his head, and it was like a ghost came over me,” Jackson said. “I just knew he was gone. The lady at the ambulance, she put her hand over his eyes and closed them. She did that, and I just started screaming and hollering and crying. He was gone, and I didn’t know what to do.”

Butler left behind an 8-year-old son.

The past several months, Larry has focused on helping her grandson figure out how to live without his father.

“He’s only 8 years old,” she said. “We’re trying to get him through the process of losing his dad. They were really close, so we’re just trying to help him figure out how to be without his dad. It’s just been really tough.”

Larry said she knows in her heart someone saw or knows what happened to her son.

“My plea to them is just to have the right heart to come forward … so we can bring this person to justice,” she said. “I know that the sheriff’s office is doing the best they can, and without concrete evidence, it’s just a waiting game. I just want justice for my son.”

Patten says his office has several leads in the case and believes the crime could have connections outside of Adams County.

“That is why we are reaching out to the public to ask for help on this,” he said. “We are asking the citizens of Adams County to stand up for what is right and say, ‘We are not having this here in this community, and if it does happen, it will not go uncontested.’ Justice will be served. The family deserves that, the community deserves that.”

Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in Butler’s death.

Crime Stoppers can be reached at 601-442-5000, and calls are anonymous.

“I just want somebody to say something, to help my momma get some peace and give her some closure,” Jackson said. “It’s hard for everybody every day.”