Sylvester Ronald Riley, known to friends and family as Pippy, was found dead in his Columbia, South Carolina, apartment on October 22, 2016. A female acquaintance discovered the 60-year-old at the Elmtree/Georgetown Square Apartments on Tama Road; an autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound to his upper body sometime between October 21 and October 22.

Riley was a proud Army veteran and a Lower Richland High School graduate who served seven years, including duty as an Honor Guard for President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inauguration. In later life he volunteered in the kitchen at the Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was remembered by his daughter Olivia as a cheerful, upbeat presence who brought smiles to people’s faces.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department opened a homicide investigation and investigators said early on they believed the killing was not random and that Riley probably knew the person responsible. Despite that optimism and appeals from family, the case later went cold; no arrests or suspects have been publicly identified. If anyone knew Sylvester Riley or has information about his death, please share what you can with investigators.