Eric Hyder, 32, was shot and killed while walking home along Y Camp Road near Port Gibson on the evening of January 13, 2014. Authorities said he was about a hundred yards from his house when a car pulled up beside him, a single shot was fired, and he collapsed on the roadside. Investigators quickly focused on a vehicle and its driver; witness information and leads pointed to 20-year-old Marque Daishon West, who lived on the same road.

Claiborne County deputies arrested West within about a day and charged him with murder. A grand jury returned an indictment for first-degree murder, but West later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced by the Circuit Court of Claiborne County to thirty years in Mississippi Department of Corrections custody. During the days after the killing, the Hyder family’s funeral was marred when deputies arrested Eric’s brother, Jopravious Hyder, on outstanding burglary warrants as mourners left the service.

West later filed a post-conviction motion raising claims about his understanding of parole eligibility and his sentence; the Mississippi Court of Appeals reviewed the plea paperwork and affirmed denial of the motion in August 2017, leaving the conviction and thirty-year sentence in place.

Did anyone in the area know Eric or see his path home that night?