CHARLOTTE — November marks eight years since a worker found a woman severely injured in an east Charlotte Papa Johns parking lot.
She died from her injuries six months later.
Channel 9′s Erika Jackson spoke with an investigator to discuss the challenges with the cold case.
There are hundreds of cold case files in Room 713 at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
This file was added to it last year. It’s important for investigators to bring closure when they can.
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“The biggest thing for me is being able to go to a family and tell them we’ve found the person who killed your loved one and seek justice for the family,” said Det. James Helms, CMPD Cold Case Unit.
Helms has worked hundreds of cases during his 25 years with the department.
One on his list is the 2016 slaying of Brian “Sherrell” Faulkner.
“We might not ever be able to solve a case like this, but we can give them more answers,” Helms said. “(To) give them more information about what happened.”
Sherrell Faulkner was living in Charlotte. Her family said she identified as a transgender woman. Detectives don’t think that was a motive for her death.
“Somebody knows something, and I want this to be out,” said Robyn Faulkner, the victim’s sister. “And if it could open up something where somebody would come forward, please.”
Robyn Faulkner who lives in New York remembers flying to Charlotte when she learned her sister was fighting for her life.
“The doctors were saying that he had traumatic brain injury, most likely wouldn’t be the same,” Robyn Faulkner said.
Police said a trash worker found Sherrell Faulkner next to a dumpster. She’d been shot multiple times. Officers blocked off the Papa Johns parking lot at The Plaza and East 35th Street. Paramedics rushed Sherrell Faulkner to a hospital.
Investigators don’t know how she ended up next to the dumpster.
“She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, so she was not able to provide any, she was never conscious again to provide us information that could lead us in any direction in the investigation,” Helms said.
His team learned that just after midnight that night, Sherrell Faulkner had left an abandoned house behind Papa Johns.
Helms said someone saw her get into a white vehicle with two men. Sometime between midnight and 2:30 a.m., someone called the police to report gunshots. However, officers saw nothing unusual.
The trash worker found Sherrell Faulkner at 7 a.m. and she died six months later from her injuries.
“This has been traumatizing for seven years, and I just want closure. My family needs closure,” Robyn Faulkner said.
“It happened late at night, semi-residential, semi-business, but most of the businesses are closed, so there’s not a lot of people out walking around,” Helms said. “Maybe not a lot of people with information.”
Helms explained what investigators have accomplished since taking over the case in 2023.
“We have done some other investigative work, done some cellphone analysis and things like that, but it just hasn’t led us anywhere,” he said.
In the last 18 months, he has spoken with witnesses who pointed him to others.
He said there is one critical witness who could help move the cold case file out of Room 713 and into the solved case category.
“I do know there are certain people that do have information, and I just ask that they come forward,” the detective said.
There is a $5,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest.