Eight years ago, Kimberly Pagano was celebrating her brother’s birthday with her family. Two days later, she and her unborn child were dead.

Kimberly, 20, was found shot to death Jan. 30, 2009, at her residence at 306 Compact School Road near Kings Mountain, according to the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office. She was last seen alive earlier that evening by her boyfriend, Robert Deshawn Odums.

Kathy Pagano, Kimberly’s mother, has yet to have closure in her daughter’s and grandchild’s deaths, and she wants the person who did it to answer for the crime.

“I want to know what happened, and no one’s willing to say anything. That’s the sad part,” Kathy Pagano said with tears in her eyes.

Kimberly was four months pregnant at the time of her death.

“She loved kids, and she was so excited to be pregnant,” Kathy Pagano said.

Kathy Pagano’s loss hit hard. She and her remaining family moved from Kings Mountain six years ago and now reside in Dallas. Photos of Kimberly and her brother, Thomas, at different ages line the wall. Where there were four people in family photos, now there are only three.

“The last thing I said to her was, ‘I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon,’” Kathy Pagano said.

'I hope you pay'

On the night of the slaying, Odums returned to their home to find it burglarized and his girlfriend dead on the bedroom floor, according to investigators.

"He (Odums) said it was a burglary gone bad, but I never believed it," Kathy Pagano said.

Investigators have continued to search for clues but have come up empty-handed over the years.

"We have had people of interest and develop leads as they come," said Capt. Joel Shores, of the Sheriff's Office. "With manpower issues, it can sometimes slow us down on what we can and can't do."

Kathy Pagano said she believes she knows the person who killed her daughter and unborn grandchild, and had a message for them.

"I hope you pay. I hope you pay hard for what you did to her," she said. "There was no reason for this. If you didn't want her, you should've let her go."

The Paganos hope to find some sort of closure and ask that anyone who knows anything about what happened to Kimberly come forward.

"Just say something," Kathy Pagano said.