By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
It was early in the morning when Diane Byers heard a knock on her front door. She assumed it was her great-nephew Jason Heggins. Instead, it was the police coming to tell Byers that Jason was dead.
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The 21-year-old had been found Jan. 24 shot to death along a wooded path off Old Wilkesboro Road.
Salisbury Police continue to investigate but have come up empty-handed.
“We still need someone to come forward with information,” said Police Chief Mark Wilhelm. He said investigators have had some leads and have followed up, but the leads have “not led to a strong suspect at this point.”
Heggins was shot multiple times. His death marked the first Salisbury murder in 2009.
Byers raised Heggins and his brother, Thomas, since the two were nine and 10, respectively.
She said she could understand a car accident or a death of natural causes. But she just can’t erase the words shot multiple times.
“I just can’t shake it,” she said, looking at old family photos.
“He didn’t deserve it,” Byers said.
Jason and Thomas’ mother, Willette Heggins, was unable to care for them, Byers said. Another aunt, Cynthia Heggins, had them briefly. In order for them not to be separated, Byers agreed to take both boys.
Byers said she was aware that people thought she took Thomas and Jason to obtain a check. She said she genuinely loved them, like her own children. She had two older children of her own.
Byers said one day Jason told her she was his mother. She told him she was not to replace his mother because he already had one. But from that moment on, the boys called her “Nana.”
She said they were not always angels. There were days she had to “do a little spanking.”
When the boys got into trouble, Byers sent them to a group home in Charlotte.
They were able to spend their weekends with Byers.
She said she enjoyed her time with them.
“Don’t get me wrong. I used to have to spank them butt butts,” Byers said with a laugh.
Jason attended Rowan Academy and later Knox Middle School. He also attended Henderson Independent High School.
Jason was the outdoorsman she said.
The family lived for a time across the street from a woman who owned horses. As a child, Jason enjoyed riding and feeding the horses. Thomas didn’t.
Jason was good with animals, she said. He even wanted to become a veterinarian.
She owned a chow that would not let anyone touch him, except Jason.
Growing up, Byers taught the boys to cook, sew and clean. It was important, she said.
“I always told them to learn to do a little bit of everything,” Byers said.
Thomas Heggins, Jason’s older brother, said he and Jason were always in trouble.
“I was older. I was the ringleader,” he said with a laugh.
He described Jason as a quiet kid who stayed mostly to himself.
“Jason was the nicer brother,” Thomas said, joking.
As a teenager, Jason had sort of gotten out of his quiet stage and opened up a little more. “He played around and joked,” Thomas said.
When Jason began wearing baggy pants like other teenagers, he always pulled them up when he was around his Nana.
“He knew I would say something about his pants hanging down,” Byers said.
He might have wanted to be like his peers, but Byers remembers Jason as quiet and soft-spoken.
As a child, he was a crybaby, she said.
Byers said her great-nephew was not a bully.
“He never argued back. He’d just say ‘aww Nana,’ ” she said.
As he got older, Jason often stayed with Byers, friends or her daughter, Tammy Boyd.
Byers said he’d come to stay with her every now and then. He’d check on her and her dogs. She’d make dinner.
“This was always home,” she said.
When he was worried about something or had a problem, it was Byers he confided in. He would ask her advice on how to handle a situation.
The last time Thomas saw his brother, Jason had come over to Thomas’ house for a visit. Thomas lives in Salisbury with his wife, Sharika.
The two brothers sat on the porch, listened to music and laughed.
The last time Thomas talked to Jason remains a place of pain for him.
He was fishing with his dad and Jason called. Thomas said he kind of rushed Jason off the phone and told him he’d call him back later.
He never did.
“I felt bad that was the last time I talked to him,” he said.
In 2004, Jason was charged with common law robbery. He was convicted nearly a year later.
He spent about seven months in prison, Byers said.
Police suspected Jason of being in a gang, but they had not confirmed it.
Thomas disagrees, saying if his brother was in a gang, he’d know. “I know my brother,” he said.
Thomas believes if Jason were in gang, he would have told him.
He also thinks Jason was killed by someone who was familiar to his brother.
“I don’t think he was targeted by a gang. Police said they found a gun on him,” Thomas said.
The police chief confirmed that.
Thomas said his brother was not the confrontational type. He said Jason was not the kind of person who went looking for trouble.
“He didn’t really fool with anybody. He was a good person. He was kind-hearted,” he said.
Wilhelm would not say what caliber gun was used to shoot him.
Thomas noted his disappointment in a number of unsolved murders, including his brother’s.
He wishes police had more to go on.
CrimeStoppers is offering a reward up to $1,000 if a tip leads to an arrest and conviction.
Although Jason had gotten into trouble four years ago, he was preparing to return to Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Byers said.
The 21-year-old hoped to own a business someday, just like his Nana.
Byers owned two thrift stores at one time. She has since closed them.
She was also a social worker with the Salvation Army.
“You really don’t know how much you love a person, ’til they’re gone,” she said.
The last time Byers spoke with Jason was the Thursday before his death. She told him she just wanted him to be a good person.
“He said, ‘Nana, I love you’ and he went out the door. That was the last time I saw him,” she said.
His death is a puzzle to her as well.
“Everybody knew him,” she said.
Byers knows there’s nothing she can do to bring Jason back. But the questions about his death still cause her stress.
Looking back over his life, Byers is concerned that she did the right things.
“I hope I didn’t fail,” she said.
It still bothers Byers to drive by Old Wilkesboro Road near the place where Jason was found.
“I just miss him,” she said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Salisbury-Rowan CrimeStoppers at 1-866-639-5245 or the Salisbury Police at 704-638-5333.