Nearly five years after the killing of Jason Klonowski, his death -- one of Madison County's biggest murder mysteries -- is being probed by a former sheriff's deputy turned private investigator.

It was Nov. 3, 2013 when a neighbor found Klonowski's body posed in a chair by the barn on his property just off Alabama 53. Klonowski had been shot three times in the back of the head four days earlier. A baseball cap covered his wounds.

Just a month earlier, Klonowski stood on a homemade stage in his yard, vowing not to give up until two Madison County sheriff's deputies were imprisoned.

Jason Klonowski was shot and killed on Oct. 30, 2013. His body was found on Nov. 3, 2013.

"There's somebody out there that's gotten away with murder," said Dawn Hendricks, the Huntsville private investigator who's been hired to look into the case. "It needs to be a priority and we need to bring it to justice.

"As far as we know, there's a murderer that's just been free, roaming around with everybody else doing their daily thing," Hendricks added. "But Jason doesn't get that opportunity."

It's unclear who, other than Hendricks, is still investigating Klonowski's slaying.

A Madison County sheriff's spokesman on Friday said the department is still investigating the case. Lt. Donny Shaw said he doesn't know the last time the case was actively worked or the name of the investigator.

The sheriff's office a day earlier had said the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) was investigating. But an ALEA spokesman said his agency wasn't involved.

The Klonowski case has been the subject of award-winning investigative reporting by AL.com, which examined the events before and after the killing. The reporting was based largely on the sheriff's investigative files, which were released as part of a lawsuit settlement.

The revenge beatdown

Klonowski's public, high-stakes battle with the Madison County sheriff's office stems from a 2012 traffic stop that sent his friend to the hospital, cost the county $625,000 and eventually landed a deputy in federal prison.

Klonowski's handyman and friend Robert Bryant had been brutally beaten during a traffic stop the night of Aug. 22, 2012. Now-former deputy Justin Watson eventually was sentenced to three years in federal prison for lying about the case. The traffic stop and beating were in retaliation for an off-duty barfight between Watson and Bryant a few weeks earlier, federal authorities said. It happened at Billy's, a late-night poolhall in a strip mall north of Huntsville. The drunken scuffle left Watson with a fat lip.

Watson couldn't let it go, federal authorities alleged at a sentencing hearing in 2016. Watson pressured a dispatcher to help track down Bryant's identity, an FBI agent testified.

In his guilty plea, Watson acknowledged stopping, striking and choking Bryant but claimed he acted in self-defense.

Strangely, Bryant has always said he was stopped and beaten by another deputy, not Watson. He named Deputy Jake Church in a 2014 lawsuit he filed against Sheriff Blake Dorning, the county and several deputies. The county paid $625,000 to settle the lawsuit without taking a deposition.

Dawn Hendricks, a former deputy turned private investigator, is probing the Jason Klonowski case.

Other deputies knew Watson had lied in court, Watson's own attorney Michael Tewalt argued at his sentencing in 2016. None took any action, Tewalt argued, and only Watson suffered consequences.

Also at Watson's sentencing, Hendricks testified that Watson was bearing the punishment for other deputies. "He's taking the fall for some of these guys he works with," she testified in federal court.

The unsolved murder

There were no signs of struggle nor burglary at the scene of Klonowski's killing. As Madison County investigators arrived at the scene, they drove past Klonowski's signs protesting the "brutality" of local deputies.

The investigation was hindered by the way the scene had been handled. It was treated at the time as an unattended death, with emergency workers, family and others walking freely through the scene. Deputies didn't put up police tape until the next day after an autopsy found bullet holes in Klonowski's head.

One deputy was even arrested and accused of mishandling a gun at the scene. Former deputy Steve Parton was fired and charged with theft. It turned out that gun wasn't the murder weapon, and it wasn't missing. The charge was dropped by a judge.

The FBI, state law enforcement and the sheriff's office have all at some point been involved in the investigation of the case, though no suspects have ever been publicly named, and no charges have ever been filed.

Each year around November, news stories are a reminder of the unsolved case and the lack of leads or hard evidence against a killer.

"Somebody knows something," said Hendricks, the private investigator. "Just because the Robert Bryant case has been settled, that doesn't mean the Jason Klonowski case has gone away."

Hank Sherrod, an Alabama civil rights attorney who represented Robert Bryant, this week told AL.com he believes the Klonowski killing is connected to the Bryant case. He wrote an open letter in November 2013 saying deputies had reason to harm Klonowski.

Bryant had been arrested and charged with assaulting Watson after the traffic stop in August 2012.

Klonowski was helping pay for Bryant's criminal defense. He even built a stage in his front yard and on Sept. 28, 2013, about one month before he was shot, Klonowski held a rally in support of Bryant. Klonowski on that day publicly declared he would see Watson and others sent to prison for the traffic stop beatdown. He named several county officials, too.

The case against Bryant for assaulting an officer was suddenly dropped on Nov. 13, 2013, more than a year after he was charged and just 10 days after Klonowski's body was found.

Cold case

Hendricks, a former Huntsville police officer, federal agent and Madison County deputy, said the timing is "just right" for finally solving the Klonowski killing.

The election of a new sheriff is right around the corner with Dorning not seeking another term.

Though the circumstances of the killing are "very odd," Hendricks says she's not pointing a finger at any specific suspect.

Citing safety concerns, Hendricks won't say who hired her to investigate the case. She also has put in place safety measures and backup for herself. She doesn't walk around without her gun.

"I just hope to God nothing happens to me," she said.