"The driver is hit. … He might be dead and I’m hit too. … A car just came out firing shots."

With those frantic words, the life of Earl “Everlasting” Sanders came to an end, gunned down as he drove down a dark, lonely stretch of Route 18 in Colts Neck on April 29, 2018.

One year later, no one knows why.

His family and friends are desperate for answers. Usually, there’s talk in their neighborhoods — Asbury Park and Neptune — when something happens to one of their own. Or at least whispers about what might have happened and who might be responsible.

But not this time.

And the cops investigating the killing are at a standstill. They’ve interviewed friends and co-workers, scoured surveillance tapes and run down every lead and rumor they’ve heard.

Still, nothing.

The 54-year-old beloved barber, who had turned his life around after a drug addiction, a prison term and overcoming his personal demons, was killed just before 2 a.m. on a rainy spring night. Sanders was heading home to Neptune with a friend when a car suddenly pulled alongside his 2009 Mercedes Benz C350 and fired 17 shots, peppering the car from back to front. You can see the video surveillance timeline below.

The last hours of Sanders’ life are memorialized in grainy surveillance footage gleaned from bars, social clubs and dark street corners. The footage, which was released publicly for the first time to the Asbury Park Press, offers a glimpse of some of Sanders' final moments and shows two vehicles spotted behind Sanders minutes before the murder that are of interest to investigators.

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Authorities are now turning to the public for help, hoping the new details might jog someone’s memory, or provide that singular missing clue that might finally crack the case.

“As far as we can tell, we can’t find (anybody) who had a motive or some kind of reason to want to hurt or harm Mr. Sanders,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

Sanders was hit three times that night on Route 18, the fatal wound delivered to his back. His car came to rest alongside a guardrail. His panicked passenger, himself shot in the leg, called 911.

“The car that rolled up and shot is gone,” Sanders’ friend, whom authorities have not publicly identified, told the dispatcher. “(Sanders) is just laying here (unresponsive), I think he’s gone.”

The Sanders killing is Monmouth County's only unsolved murder from 2018.

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The gunfire that night killed a father of seven, a man well-known and well-loved in the Asbury Park and Neptune communities where he grew up. The owner of a neighborhood barbershop in Asbury Park, the man called “Everlasting,” or simply “Ever,” was known for mentoring young people and charming folks with his gregarious personality.

His loss left a void in the lives of his family, friends and customers, many of whom had grown up getting their hair cut in Sanders' shop.

“We still have no answers of how this man, why this man was murdered the way he was,” Sanders’ friend Dwayne “DLove” Love said. “What did he do to deserve that? Who deserves to be killed in that manner?”

Friends speculate that the motive for Sanders' killing may have been connected to his relationships with women, but they are as puzzled as police about who is responsible.

An unremarkable night out

What makes the murder so baffling is that there was nothing odd about Sanders’ last day. It was a Saturday night and Sanders was going to a friend’s 50th birthday party at the Elks Club in Freehold. He asked friends to join him at a party that night, but when no one did, he ended up going alone.

That wasn't unusual, his friends said.

“Everlasting wasn’t a loner, but he held his own shadow,” said Love. “He went by himself to a lot of different functions and things. Everyone else would come around him, but he would be (independent).”

Sanders started out his night at 9:17 p.m. at the American Legion in Neptune. He didn’t stay long, leaving some 21 minutes later at 9:38 p.m. He doesn't show up again on surveillance footage until 11:33 p.m. when he enters Sunsets, a bar and restaurant in Neptune City. He left alone seven minutes later.

Authorities know where Sanders was that whole night, but have only revealed the locations where he appeared in public.

He came back to the Legion about 12:20 a.m., and sat outside the view of cameras. He left there at 12:38 a.m., for his final trip to the Elks Club.

Throughout the night, he got in no disputes, authorities say. He didn’t really talk to anybody until he walked into the Elks Club at 1:07 a.m.

Fighting hate with hope

One of the early rumors police investigated — but have not corroborated — was whether the shooting was related to a dispute at the barbershop. “Everlasting’s Unisex Hair Salon,” located next to the Asbury Park train station, was a fixture in the neighborhood.

Sanders and Al Jihad, his business partner and best friend, initially opened the shop in the 1990s in part to keep them out of what Jihad called the “trap” — crime and trouble on the streets. Sanders also wanted to extend the same opportunities to others in the neighborhood.

"(Sanders) used to say, ‘Hey man, this is a place where guys can work and help feed their families,’” said his longtime friend Eric Acevedo. “And that’s why he started to get into the hair business.”

Over time, the shop evolved into more than just a place to get a haircut. It became a gathering place for black men, young and old, in Asbury Park and Neptune, and a forum for discussions on politics, faith and family, patrons said.

Sanders used his barbershop to mentor young people and support community causes. He was known for his positive energy, big heart and love for the ladies.

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“He was really a person who would do for others more than himself,” said Love, 41, who met Sanders when he was a teenager. “His focus was on trying to get other people work.”

Acevedo met Sanders in the mid-1970s when they were young teenagers who played basketball at the West Side Community Center in Asbury Park.

It was Sanders who motivated Acevedo to open his own clothing store, “E’s House of Fashion” on Cookman Avenue, in the 1990s. Acevedo had toyed with the idea of opening a shop, but many in his circle of friends told him it was too risky.

Feeling torn, Acevedo turned to Sanders, who one day brought him behind the barbershop and delivered a pep-talk, drawing on the pair’s mutual love of sports that he still remembers two decades later.

“He said, ‘What are you waiting for...it’s time for you to own your own business, your own store,”’ Acevedo recalled. “He said, ‘The worst thing that can happen is that you fail. That doesn’t take away from you as a human being. … In sports and in life, sometimes you fail and you have to get back up.’”

Acevedo sold the store after about five years, but throughout his life, Sanders was always there to set him straight when he wasn’t living up to his potential, he said. A year later, Acevedo still has Everlasting's contact in his cell phone.

He can't bring himself to delete it.

Even though Sanders didn’t have much, he was always helping people try to make a living and always willing to give people a shot, said 61-year-old Donald “DC” Jackson, a friend of Sanders.

Everlasting got his nickname from his involvement with the Five Percenters, a movement founded in the 1960s based on the ideology that black people are the founders and keepers of civilization. The movement promotes community involvement and self-sufficiency.

Learn more about Sanders' impact in the community in the video below.

“One of the things he said is there’s no hope without hate,” Love said. “He knew hate existed, but he fought it with hope.”

Righting wrongs

Sanders was known as ‘the comeback kid.’ While he had his share of run-ins with the law and struggled with drug addiction, he always returned to his community and sought to make a positive difference, according to his friends.

“He had the ability to right his wrong and do better than he did before.” Love said. “Whatever he did, he paid for it. And when he came back, he came back real strong in the public eye.”

Sanders was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January 2006 after a jury found him guilty of motor vehicle theft and two eluding police charges. He stole a medical transport vehicle from Jersey Shore University Medical Center in 2003, drove it to Asbury Park to buy drugs and then led police on multiple chases through Asbury Park, Neptune and Ocean Township. He was also charged with attempted murder, but found not guilty.

His lawyer had argued that Sanders was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time.

Sanders was released from prison in 2016 when his sentence was up. He was a free man, no longer under court supervision.

“He had his shortcomings, and we all have our shortcomings,” said Acevedo. “But you measure a man by his heart. And his heart was always in the community, his heart was always with his family, his heart was always trying to do things.”

Sanders was fiercely dedicated to his kids, even while he was incarcerated, said Jack Wright, 83, Sanders’ uncle. He wrote letters, sent cards on birthdays and holidays and scraped up money he earned while in prison to send when he could.

Attempts to reach Sanders' children and a niece were unsuccessful. One of his ex-girlfriends and mother of one of his children declined to speak on the record.

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“Ever was smart, book-wise and all that,” Wright said. “He had a good mind on him. He could learn, but he just let life catch up with him on the wrong side.”

Former Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Edward Neafsey, who presided over Sanders’ theft and eluding trial, said Sanders wrote him a “very personal” letter in 2006 explaining the struggles he endured throughout his life. The last line of the letter was this:

“Having been found to be an offender more often than I would like to remember, I believe (the criminal justice system) works,” Sanders wrote. “I believe it will work for me."

Neafsey hopes it still does. He wrote a letter to the Press in April lauding law enforcement for their continuing efforts to solve the case.

“You don’t want someone’s memory to be erased, to be forgotten,” Neafsey said.

Final night

On the last night of his life, Sanders left the Elks Club about 1:35 a.m. April 29, 2018. Rumors circulated that he may have been killed because of a dispute at the Freehold club, but police found no evidence of an altercation that night. An attendee at the party told the Press the atmosphere was family-friendly and there were no signs of tension.

When he left the club, Sanders got into his 2009 Mercedes and spotted someone across from the Elks Club. Sanders performed a sort of K-turn to have a conversation with the person, whom authorities have been unable to identify.

Here’s what investigators say happened next:

Seven minutes later, at 1:42 a.m., Sanders picks up a friend — the passenger — across the street from the Elks Club. The friend wasn’t at the party that night. Authorities said they have not identified him publicly because they don't know if releasing his name would put him in danger.

Three minutes later, Sanders stops at a traffic light on the corner of Throckmorton and Broad streets. It’s the last time his car was seen on video.

Three other vehicles stop at the light behind Sanders. One is a black pickup truck that the prosecutor’s office has determined was not connected to the murder.

The other two cars are a black Dodge Charger and a black Nissan Altima. Detectives have not been able to identify the owners and believe they may be relevant to the investigation. Gramiccioni, the county prosecutor, appealed to the public to come forward if they had information about the vehicles or their drivers. You can see the vehicles and hear Gramiccioni’s appeal in the video below.

Sanders left Freehold and drove onto Route 18 south heading back to the Asbury Park area.

He was driving in the right lane going through Colts Neck when another vehicle approached in the left lane. Near the Route 34 exit, one or multiple shooters fired from the passenger side of their vehicle into the driver’s side of Sanders’ Mercedes.

Sanders' friend reported the shooting in a frantic 911 call placed at 1:57 a.m. You can hear the call in the video below.

The mere number of shots that were fired into the vehicle — 17 — while moving at highway speed has investigators considering the possibility that there was more than one shooter. Gramiccioni said the vehicle was “showered” with bullets.

No whispers

Sanders' murder has remained a subject of conversation among many of his friends and barbershop patrons over the last year. Friends still check in with one another about possible developments in the case. But little has come out.

“If it was somebody around here, we’d know about it,” Jackson, Sanders' friend and employee, said.

The killing was also part of a spate of seemingly random shootings on Monmouth County highways in late-April and early-May of 2018. But from the beginning, the prosecutor's office ruled out any connection between Sanders’ murder and the other shootings.

Investigators interviewed Sanders' friend who was in the passenger seat that night. They canvassed his neighborhood and the barbershop, they spoke to family and friends and they examined his social and business connections. They analyzed his cellphone and pulled surveillance footage from the places where he spent his final hours. But so far, no real clues.

The lack of progress in the case has dredged up deep-seated skepticism of the authorities in a community where unsolved murders have been an issue in the past.

“The first thing you hear is ‘Are they really looking for him?’” Acevedo said.

Gramiccioni said he's aware of the tension between law enforcement and residents in some areas of the county, and it’s something he has sought to improve. He said the investigation remains active and authorities are hoping that the public may have additional information that may help them find Sanders' killer.

Three factors have hampered the investigation, according to authorities:

An intentional homicide involving two vehicles speeding down the highway is rare and allows perpetrators to leave little physical evidence.

There are no traffic cameras lined up along Route 18, and at 2 a.m., that stretch of road is dark and traffic is sparse, creating few witnesses.

Investigators haven’t been able to find anyone with a motive for the killing.

‘Everlasting’ legacy

In Sanders' barbershop, Jihad said these days he rarely discusses his late best friend. But he has faith that whoever is responsible will meet justice.

“He wanted to do as much as he could while he was here, while he was living, to make other people’s lives beautiful,” Jihad said. “He wanted to make sure people didn’t go through what he went through.”

When the shop closes for the night, the shutters are covered by a mural of the man who once owned and lent his name to it. The mural shows Everlasting, wearing glasses and a ring, pointing forward while a glimmer of light sparkles behind him.

One year later, a barber’s chair sits tucked away in the corner. A stray cap sits where razors and hair styling products were once stored. It was Sanders' station. It’s empty now and will remain that way until the right person comes along to fill it.

“I think his name will live on forever,” Love said. “That’s why they called him Everlasting.”

How you can help

Anyone who may have information about the case or about the vehicles caught on video should call Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Detective Ryan Mahony at 1-800-533-7443 or Colts Neck police Detective Richard Zarrillo at 732-531-1428.

Want to be anonymous? Reach out to Monmouth County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-671-4400 or text “MONMOUTH” plus your tip to 274637 (CRIMES). Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information leading to arrests.

Kala Kachmar is a national award-winning reporter covering municipal court reform, police accountability issues, Howell Township and breaking news. She's worked as a government reporter for more than 10 years in Connecticut, Alabama and New Jersey. Contact her: @NewsQuip; 732-643-4061; kkachmar@gannettnj.com.

Andrew Goudsward covers crime and breaking news. A lifelong native of the Jersey Shore, he won a New Jersey Press Association award for best new journalist in 2018. Contact him at agoudsward@gannettnj.com, 732-897-4555 or @AGoudsward on Twitter.

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