Twenty Gastonia families have waited years to find out who killed their loved ones.

That's the number of unsolved city homicide cases more than five years old, according to the Gastonia Police Department's website. People were killed and investigators were called to the scene of a crime to begin work on identifying a killer. Finding that suspect, though, has proven an elusive task.

The Gazette is revisiting these cases in an attempt to shine new light on old investigations and see if any new information has been collected as the years have passed.

Stephanie Emory Vernon

Death: July 4, 2010

Age: 34

Cause: Unknown

Background: Vernon was found in a wooded area off West Airline Avenue around 2 p.m. on Independence Day. To this day, police haven't said how she died, only that she wasn't stabbed or shot.

Vernon was a prostitute who liked to drink and do drugs, then-Gastonia Police Sgt. Jimmy Arndt said in the July 6, 2010 edition of The Gaston Gazette. In the six months prior to her death, she had been arrested for prostitution, failure to appear to court, drug paraphernalia, assault and resisting an officer.

Police suspected foul play only after seeing inconsistencies in her autopsy. Vernon's body had been left there at least a day before it was found.

Suspects?

The area where Vernon's body was discovered was a popular drinking spot for some people in the area, Arndt said in 2010. She was found by someone who arrived there to meet a friend.

Nobody has been arrested for Vernon's killing.