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.

Victims died from gunshot wounds, hits to the head and stabbings. Bodies were found in businesses, residences, wooded areas and, in one instance, inside a well. Justice is still not served in their deaths, some of which are now decades old.

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.

Kimmie Ann Zelrick Massengale

Death: Around July 31, 1987

Age: 28

Cause: Bled to death after her throat was slashed

Background: Massengale's body was found badly beaten and partially decomposed behind the Gaston Mall two days after it's believed she died.

Then-Maj. Dennis Crosby told The Gazette at the time that police didn't have a motive, though officers speculated the prostitute was killed by a customer.

She was last seen alive the afternoon of July 31, 1987, near the corner of West Franklin Boulevard and South Liberty Street. Police at the time said that area near the Firestone Mill was frequented by sex workers.

Massengale was discovered with fists clenched and her throat slit. She was beaten with a 4-inch board.

Suspects?

Police questioned other prostitutes but never convicted anyone of Massengale's killing. She left behind two children, including Amy Lawless, now 37.

Nearly 30 years after Massengale's death, Lawless says she thinks about her mother every day.

She remembers Massengale as a wonderful mother, always trying to make her daughter smile. Her mother's generosity showed until the very end.

"I remember the last thing she bought me was a Dr. Pepper and a Zero candy bar," Lawless said. "That was the last time I saw her."

Lawless was too young to comprehend what her mom did for money. She'd sometime go on rides with her aunt while Massengale was walking the streets.

"She would be walking and I didn't necessarily know what that meant," Lawless said. "My aunt would tell me she was working. I didn't know exactly what it meant until I got older and then I understood."

Lawless waited until after she turned 15 to read news accounts of her mother's death. She doesn't know for sure whether Massengale's lifestyle contributed to her death, but she doesn't feel a mother doing what it takes to provide for her children should've been murdered for doing so.

"That's what she did for money, it doesn't mean somebody should kill her and nobody could ever get charged with it and leave her like she's trash," Lawless said.