For Galadriel Crosby, it's the day her brother, Michael Crosby was frozen in time.
"He was an artist, a smart person, a big brother, a wonderful son," she says.
Galadriel Crosby was only 15 years old, a teenager listening to music, New Years Day, when she remembers her dad getting the call.
"I'd never seen him cry before, and I just heard this guttural sound, and I knew something was wrong with my brother, and it changed our lives forever it changed my parents in a second," she says.
Michael, then 20 years old, was at a New Years Eve house party with roommates in Raleigh, before going to Chapel Hill with an acquaintance. He was found dead the next morning after being shot in the head at a water treatment plant in Chapel Hill that's now a soccer park.
"From what I understand, he was set up and robbed, and murdered execution style, which is incompressible to me or anyone," she says.
Over the years, Galadriel says there had been a suspect, and lots of interviews done, but never any arrests.
"I've watched cases get solved and I'm so grateful for those families, and I just wonder why not ours," she says.
And as the clock strikes midnight, every year, it's a reminder of the all milestones Michael's hasn't been here to see.
"My daughter - seeing him become an uncle, that's the biggest thing." Now, on this year in 2026, she hopes it will finally be the year she gets answers.
"He's still my hero he's still my big brother. 26 years later, and I still want justice for him, I want him to be at peace," she says.
Crosby says the case is still open, and they have a detective with the Chapel Hill Police Department assigned to the case who they communicate with for updates. They are asking anyone with information to come forward.
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