‘We need closure’: Months after deadly shooting on I-85, answers remain elusive

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Four months ago, someone shot and killed 19-year-old Uriah McCree as he drove on Interstate 85 in Gaston County.

McCree’s murder is one of six in the county this year, but his death is the only case where no arrests have been made.

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Christina Michaels, McCree’s mother, is hurting for answers. She says she has felt powerless since March, with her son gone and no one held responsible.

“The first thoughts in the morning is my son and the fact that whoever killed him is out there,” Michaels said.

Christina Michaels and her son, Uriah McCree McCree was killed in a shooting on I-85 in Gaston County on Tuesday night. (Photo courtesy of Christina Michaels)

McCree was a father who didn’t live to see his son’s first birthday.

Police say McCree was driving on I-85 near exit 13 when someone believed to be in a white Dodge Charger shot him several times and drove off.

No one has reported seeing the car or the shooter since.

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“My whole life has changed,” Michaels said. “I cry every day. The worst part of it, except that I’ve lost him, is missing him now.”

Five other people have been murdered in Gaston County since McCree’s death. In each case, at least one suspect has been arrested in connection with the killings.

Despite his killing happening on the busiest thoroughfare in the county, McCree’s killers remain free.

Gaston County shooting Police at the scene of a deadly shooting on Interstate 85 in Gaston County Tuesday evening. (WSOC)

“It’s tough knowing that my son’s murderer is only one unsolved,” Michaels said. “I don’t understand it.”

Last weekend, McCree’s family led a “Love and Peach” march through downtown Gastonia that called for an end to the city’s recent surge in violence.

“I have no closure, because I don’t really know exactly what happened to him or why,” Michaels said.

Investigators told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon they have worked tirelessly every day since McCree was murdered, looking for the one piece of information that will break open the case.

That evidence, like peace of mind for McCree’s family, has been elusive.

Michaels told Channel 9 she worries she’ll never know who killed her son. She said she hasn’t been able to work since her son’s murder, because she can’t focus long enough to concentrate on anything but McCree.

“I just need peace,” Michaels said. “My family, you know, we need peace. We need closure. I need to know what happened.”

(WATCH BELOW: Mother copes with son’s death as trial of juvenile suspect looms in Gastonia)