HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — When you lose a loved one, you never stop thinking about the loss that you've experienced.
"She was a good mother, good sister. He was the smart little boy," Angela Alfaro said.
That's how Angela Alfaro remembers her sister Shaquilla and nephew Zay'vion— who were both killed in their Hot Springs apartment.
"We go to the grave every day. And see them. It's not the same without them," said Alfaro.
The tragic incident happened about three years ago in December 2020.
After Shaquilla and Zay'vion missed a family funeral, Shaquilla's sisters got concerned. They decided to leave the ceremony early to find them.
"We went there to check, you know, knocked on the door, looked around the house, the apartment, and I noticed her car was still there and her wallet was still in her car— and right then I knew something was wrong," Alfaro described.
She then called the police to check it out— and Hot Springs Violent Crimes Detective, Mark Fallis, was one of the first to arrive at the scene.
"Went over there, myself and other detectives in our crime scene unit, and found Shaquilla, a 21-year-old female, and her five-year-old son had been murdered in their home," Detecive Fallis described.
Police determined that Shaquilla and Zay'vion had been dead for two days before their bodies were found.
Even though years have passed— there's still no one in custody for the murders.
"When they went in there, they saw murder. She was shot to death. And he was shot to his head. I mean a gunshot to his head, 5 years old? Who would do that? Retaliation? Anger? Jealous?" Alfaro asked.
Family and police— have both been hanging on the hope that their current leads can help solve the case
"I would not consider this a pure cold case. A pure cold case is one where there's no leads, there's nowhere to go. There is information slowly trickling in on this case. And anytime we get any bit of information or any kind of lead that I can follow up on, I'm following up on that lead," Detective Fallis explained.
Last year, police revealed that Shaquilla and Zay'vion likely knew their killer.
"To kill a child? Takes something really personal, personal, or just pure evil," said Detective Fallis.
The new information that had been uncovered prompted Angela to think about the people in her sister's life.
"Her biological baby daddy, he recently just came back into her life, to I guess spend time with his son, and the boyfriend had been in her life. But you know, they had issues," Alfaro explained.
Detective Fallis said that sometimes to solve cases like this, you need to take a step back
"If you only focus on one person, you can miss the big picture, or you can miss— you may miss the actual killer. I've learned not to follow people but follow evidence. You've got to have the evidence to back up who did it to be able to get a conviction in court and you don't want to jump to conclusions on the front end," added the detective.
That evidence includes Shaquilla's cell phone— which had been originally sent off to another agency— where it took months to finally unlock the data on it.
"We were actually able to extract the data off her phone, [and] see, who she was talking to, and things around this time. And so, you know, tracking those people down and talking to people like that as well," Detective Fallis said.
Though that's not the only lead that the police have.
"We have DNA evidence. We have fingerprint evidence. As well as some other evidence that I can't really disclose right now," said Detective Fallis.
Police believe the evidence they don't share with the public will help connect a suspect to the crime.
All of this information— has led police to search for answers far away from Hot Springs.
"There's even been information coming in of things out of state. And I've actually traveled out of state several different times on this case, just because that little piece of information will come in and be like, hey, we need to check this out," said Detecive Fallis.
The distance is one of the reasons that Detective Fallis said being able to close Shaquilla and Zay'vion's case has taken so long.
"Because if you believe it could solve other cases, you also have to take the time to look at other cases– and follow where those cases have went– or evidence in those case," the detective explained.
He has been searching for every lead he can since the day he first responded to Shaquilla's apartment— more than two years ago
"You know, this isn't just a typical cold case for me to where I'm coming in after the fact. I was there from the beginning with this family. And for me to be able to call them or give them updates that, hey, I don't have any new information that I can share with you right now, that's very difficult.," Detective Fallis described.
But the family wants more to be done– desperate for closure
"This is my family. It's not your family. It's my family. It's frustrating because I don't want to say anything to offend anybody. But at this point, we need like the FBI or something. The only thing we can do is pray for hope," she said.
Detectives hope someone will call with information— and bring them closer to justice.
"There are people out here who know what happened. They know the players involved, they know who did it. This is not your typical just murder case. I mean, we're talking about a 21-year-old and her five-year-old son and their home. Just call me," Detective Fallis said.
"A five-year-old baby, a 21-year-old young girl trying to be a mother, trying to go to school for herself to raise and provide for her child. What did you get out of doing it," she asked. This has been two years now. I don't want the case to go cold. I'm still gonna fight to the end."
Hot Springs police explained that they are still analyzing evidence— and Detective Fallis hopes he can solve this case within the next year.