'Using every means possible:' Investigators, family still seek answers to soldier's shooting death in Raleigh

"It is a nightmare," says Ramos. "I don't wish this on anybody because you want to know why your son was killed."

Her quest for answers is both buoyed by a knowledge that forensic evidence may offer clues to Melendez's death and stalled by the wait for that evidence to be tested.

"Now they have some evidence that needs to be analyzed, but the state lab, it will take up to a year," she says.

Lorrin Freeman, Wake County district attorney, says her office is putting pressure on the State Crime Lab to help solve this case before it gets too cold.

"Whenever we've got a situation where you're talking about an unsolved murder, we make every effort and the crime lab makes every effort to put a rush on those types of items," she said.

Freeman says investigators will use every means possible to try and solve the case.

"We're going to continue working this case until they feel like they either solved it or there really is no other place to go," she said. "Raleigh's got a great track record of solving homicides."

A year after his November 2017 death, Ramos and her family honored Melendez at his grave at the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake. They're hoping to have answers as the second anniversary nears.

"How can they sleep every night knowing that they killed someone? Maybe if they come forward they will feel at peace," Ramos said.