STEELTON, Pa. — Nine years. No arrests. No justice for the family of Xavier Williams.
“I promise you we’re going to solve this," Xavier's mother Lissette Tuggle-Halfgood said, holding back years of tears as she stood over his grave.
He was killed on his way home from a convenience store in 2014. Nearly a decade later, little has been accomplished in the way of closure.
"Nothing has been done. Contact, no response. Talk, no response. Advocate, no response," Tuggle-Halfgood said. "My son did not have a reason to die."
Xavier left behind his parents, siblings, and his now 11-year-old daughter. Tuggle-Halfgood says pictures are all she has left to connect her granddaughter to her father.
"He was gone when she was two, she doesn't know her father," she said. "Nobody wants to give me a piece of mind. It’s not fair."
Xavier Williams' family isn’t alone. He's buried at the William Howard Cemetery in Steelton, Dauphin County, and just a stone throw away is a grave Harrisburg resident and activist Patricia Reizti knows far too well.
"Quite often," Reitzi said when asked how often she visits the cemetery. "It’s what gives me the spirit to keep pushing harder.”
She advocates for those lost to gun violence through her Facebook group "Put the Guns Down." This includes her grandson, Daquan, who is one of many whose killer has not been caught.
Reitzi keeps in contact with the Dauphin County District Attorney's office. She keeps tabs on the city's number of unsolved murders.
"We’re talking maybe 18, I think it was for 2021," She said. "And I believe it was 12 for 2022."
FOX43 reached out to District Attorney Fran Chardo to get an exact count on the total number of unsolved homicides there were in Dauphin County. His office has yet to provide that information.
In the meantime, families are playing a waiting game, including Xavier’s sister Tarin. She was only 15 when he was killed.
“He cared about his little sister, you couldn’t tell him anything," Tarin said. "He was very confident in himself."
Now in her 20s with a son of her own, confidence has turned to caution.
“It is disheartening to know something like this could happen to my son," Tarin said. "Because, one thing nobody told me about having a child: they are your heart outside of your body."
Those words are something these grieving mothers know too well.
“We’re going to get answers," Reizti told Tuggle-Halfgood.
She added that action is needed now.
“We’re tired of making t-shirts, we’re tired of the RIPs, we’re tired of the balloon releases, we’re tired of the candlelight vigils," she said. "If this was your family member wouldn't you want this case solved? Wouldn’t you want closure like these families do? They’re not asking for much, they’re asking for closure."
Closure Lissette plans to get by taking action into her own hands if necessary.
"Let it be known, I’m suing the city," she said. "So if they don’t do something, that's what’s coming next, because I’m tired."
Video was released of a potential suspect in Xavier's murder in 2015, though an arrest was never made.