COLUMBUS, Ohio — While some police departments across Ohio are seeing a reduction in violent crimes this year, recent data shows a large number of past cases remain unsolved, according to the Council of State Governments’ analysis of 2022 data.

The group’s research found Ohio ranks third in the country for the highest number of homicides, aggravated assaults, robberies and rapes still on the books. That leaves violent offenders free in the community, and victims and their families without closure.

For loved ones of James Johnson III, who was shot and killed in Columbus four years ago, that uncertainty drives them to keep fighting for answers.

Each year, on the anniversary of her son’s death, his mom Brenda returns to the gas station where James was killed.

“He was shot right there in front of, like, by that pump,” she said, pointing. “That’s where the shooting first started. So, my husband has a hard time talking. Because when he’s standing here, he sees our son standing over there.”

James Johnson Jr. remembers watching the news on that October 2020 morning and telling his wife about a shooting.

“I said somebody just lost their kid and she said, ‘Well, that’s somebody’s baby,” he said.

Only later to find out from Brenda that baby was their 29-year-old son.

“Words that I never thought I’d hear,” he said.

Four years later, who fired those fatal shots remains a mystery. The family holds an annual vigil on the corner of Highland and Sullivant to help keep his name and face out in the community.

“People had to see,” Brenda said. “I just need them to come forward. If not for me, for his kids.”

Now in the eighth grade, James’s daughter Mya is focusing on her future while surrounded by memories from her past.

“Every picture that I look at reminds me about how he’d act goofy,” she said.

The straight-A student calls her bed her safe space.

“Any time I get overwhelmed or stressed, I come here, lay on my bed, turn something on my TV like my favorite show, and watch it,” she said.

With her dad’s image always close by in picture frames and on her favorite blanket.

“Nobody else is allowed to touch that blanket besides me,” she said.

Mya was 9 when her dad was killed. She’s the oldest of six and, after his death, said she had to grow up even faster to look out for her siblings.

“I cannot stop, like, trying,” she said. “Because they look up to me now. So I have to keep going because of them.”

Brenda said she sees a lot of her son in her granddaughter.

“He always stuck up for the underdog and stood up for those who nobody else would,” Brenda said. “And that’s kind of Mya. She stands up for everybody.”

But not everybody understands what it’s like losing a dad.

“Other people would be talking about their dads and stuff and then I’d be like, ‘Oh, what’s that like?’” Mya said. “That’s literally what I say, I be like, ‘What’s that like?’”

Now at age 13, Mya said it took years to face the harsh reality that he is no longer here. And to talk about it.

“After a while, you kind of get used to it,” she said. “And I know that’s something bad to say, but after a while you got to kind of wake up and realize that, you know, he’s not going to come back. And you can’t change nothing about it.”

Instead, Mya is hoping to change the status of the investigation into her dad’s death. She said she feels like his case has been forgotten.

“Because he's just another Black man that got murdered on the hilltop,” she said.

A loss that deserves to go from a statistic to a closed case. One where justice is served.

She said she plans to draw from this experience and become a prosecutor when she graduates school to help victims’ families by holding those responsible for violent crimes accountable.

“You need to be in jail, and you need to die there,” she said. “I know that sounds so wrong, but it’s so true. You need to die there.”

She knows her dad would be proud of how far she has come and her courage to keep going. She encourages others going through similar situations to understand the difficult times will not last forever.

“Stay strong, because life gets much better,” she said. “Really, just those couple words. Stay strong because life gets better. It does.”

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for any information relating to the homicide of James Johnson III. You can share anonymous tips at stopcrime.org.