Questions remain in unsolved killing on Walnut|[7/19/06]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 19, 2006
More than a year has passed since David W. “Jones” Anderson was gunned down, and the answers to the questions of who pulled the trigger are not any clearer.
“All the police have said is ‘no leads, no leads.’ But like his favorite song said, ‘What About Me’?” his sister Lula A. Butler said Tuesday, the day after placing wreaths of flowers near the site where her brother was shot dead.
Anderson, 41, 4719 Gibson St., and a companion were leaving a 50th birthday party at the Elks Lodge on Walnut Street when shots were fired from a car at about 1:35 a.m. July 17, 2005.
The friend, John King, 38, was taken to the hospital. Butler has said she visited King in the hospital but has seen him but once since the shooting. An address of 2006 Ford St. was recorded for King on police records, but Butler said she doesn’t know where he is.
Butler said she had heard he may have left the state.
“According to the police, they couldn’t get in touch with him,” Butler said.
As for the case’s status, it’s not considered a cold case by the Vicksburg Police Department.
“It’s still open and active,” said Capt. Mark Culbertson, chief of detectives. As for the whereabouts of King, police have not speculated openly on the subject.
While the Crimestoppers reward for information leading to an arrest in the case has stood at $500, Anderson’s family set up a reward fund a month after the shooting. That fund has grown to $5,240, Butler said.
Vicksburg Chief Tommy Moffett has not commented directly on the family reward, but has spoken with the family occasionally on the case since the shooting.
“I spoke with him in June to see if anything new had come up. He said nothing had,” Butler said.
Butler admits the lack of credible witnesses after an event like a party is a main stumbling block for police to solve the case.
“It’s just hard to believe that nobody saw anything,” Butler said.
It remains the only 2005 homicide in Vicksburg from which no arrests have been made.