Family still pleading for answers 20 years after Louisville 12-year-old's murder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It has been 20 years since a 12-year-old girl was shot and killed in Louisville as she slept. Felicia Jefferson's murder is still unsolved. Thursday she would have turned 33.

For Felicia's family, celebrating her birthday has not gotten any easier.

"We hurt every single day. It can't be her birthday. We still hurt," her younger sister, Teyana Jefferson, said.

Jefferson was killed July 6, 2000, in a drive-by shooting. She was sleeping at her aunt's house, on Grand Avenue, when a barrage of bullets sped towards the home.

FELICIA JEFFERSON MURDER .jpg — July 2000, murder investigation on Grand Ave.

"I think it was 41 bullets," said the girl's mother, Janice Jefferson Mitchell.

Felicia died next to one of her sisters. It's a bad memory Jefferson Mitchell thinks about everyday.

"It's been rough. I think about her all the time. I see her all the time. I dream about her. Actually, I talk to her," she said.

The mother is still grieving the loss of her daughter, and the whole family is still begging for closure.

"If ya'll know something please tell us because right now we're still hurt, lost," Teyana Jefferson said.

It's even more painful to know the violence in the city continues, the family said. Twenty years later, Louisville is seeing an increase in violence with at least 80 homicides and more than 300 non-fatal shootings just this year.

"Please stop. Stop," Teyana Jefferson said. "It's a hurtful thing if you lose someone. Not knowing who (did) it it's a really hurtful thing. So my advice to them right now is just put the guns down."

As family members continue to look for answers in Felicia's death they remember her bright smile, wishing she were still here able to share her 33rd birthday with them.

WDRB reached out to Louisville Metro Police Department Thursday to ask where the case stands, but has not received a response.