Slain Domino's manager's family: No tip is insignificant

Dan and Kim Ring, and their daughter, Casey, are in a state of shock.

Still, they have a few more things to take care of in Raleigh, before they return home to Pennsylvania Thursday. Among them – another plea to the public to help find the person, or people, responsible for the death of their 24-year-old son, Kenny.

An assistant manager at Domino's Pizza in Knightdale, Kenny Ring was working after midnight Saturday when he became the victim of an apparent robbery, Knightdale police said.

An employee returning from a delivery found him on the floor inside the store. Kenny died two days later at WakeMed in Raleigh, where he was being treated for blunt force trauma.

"It's a hole that will never be filled. It's a void," Dan Ring said. "The realization, the real grief for us will come later. There's a lot of anger right now, and it's difficult not to become ranting, raving angry."

Police don't have a suspect, and they have asked the public for information – no matter how insignificant it might seem – to help them solve the case.

So is Ring's family.

"That least bit of (information) that seems so unimportant – it might be that one key thing that the police are looking for to tie this all together," Dan Ring said. "It will turn the lights on for the investigators and give them more information."

It is information, he says, that could help get a killer off the streets.

"This community is at risk as long as people with this kind of mindset – that can do this kind of horrible thing – are still out there running free," he said. "If they've done this once, they'll do this again."

But the family doesn't want to talk about the case right now, saying they don't know much and that they don't want to jeopardize the police's investigation.

Instead, they want to remember their son and brother.

"Kenny was a phenomenal young man who would go out of his way to help anybody with anything," Dan Ring said.

He recalls a moment at Christmas when his son mentioned how he liked walking female Domino's employees to their cars at night to make sure they were able to leave safely.

"He cared," Kim Ring said. "He took notice of people and just cared."

And in death, the family says Kenny will continue help others as an organ donor.

"Kenny was always willing to give what he didn't have," Dan Ring said. "This is something that he did have to give that could help many other people. There is always going to be a little bit of Kenny in this world."

In an effort to find clues in the case, authorities on Tuesday searched Kenny Ring's home in Raleigh and also asked for access to his cell phone records.

At the time, police didn't say why, but in a warrant returned Thursday, investigators requesting to search the residence cited "so many unanswered questions" and the belief of evidence at the home as reasons for the search.

Handwritten notes, financial papers, a diary, marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia were among the items investigators seized.

Detectives also want anyone with information about the case to contact them at 919-217-2261. Specifically, they also want to speak to anyone who was in the area of the Widewaters Commons Shopping Center in Knightdale from midnight to 12:39 a.m. Saturday.

"Someone's got to say something. The only way we're going to find anything is for someone to come forward," Casey Ring said. "Don't be afraid. Call the police. It's not going to hurt. What's it going to hurt?"

Also in an effort to generate leads, Domino's Pizza has put up a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction, and Eastern Wake Crime Stoppers has set up a fund for donations to add to that reward money.

Contributions may be made to Eastern Wake County Crime Stoppers, c/o BB&T/Kenny Ring, 1204 N. Arendell Ave., Zebulon, N.C. 27597.

Pleading for help and waiting – right now, it's all the family says they can do.

"What will solve this for me, my family and all of Kenny's friends is having these people off the streets, taken to a place where they can create no more danger in this community," Dan Ring said.

"There were so many people who loved Kenny, and what these people have done is just taken away a diamond for no worthwhile reason – no reason whatsoever that can be justified by any sane mind," he added.