On the night of Saturday, June 22, 2019, 64-year-old Joe Sykes was fatally shot just before 11 p.m. in the 400th block of Sunflower Street in Greenville, Mississippi. Sykes worked as a security guard near Doe’s Eat Place and was known in the community for greeting and escorting patrons; he was found lying in the street with gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Washington County Coroner.

Investigators recovered Sykes’ firearm and over three hundred dollars on his person, which led them to question robbery as a motive. With no witnesses at the scene, the case went cold until tips began to arrive that directed investigators to Frederick Pearson Jr., 24, of Indianola. In November 2023 Pearson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 30-year sentence.

If anyone knew Joe Sykes, his routines near Sunflower Street, or saw anything that summer night, please share what you know.