Pictures of a blonde woman with a big smile were on a conference room table in the Isle of Wight Sheriff's Office.

Her mother still couldn't believe she was dead.

"She was always a happy, funny person and that's what we have to go by," Patty Lord says.

Lord's daughter, 28-year-old Carrie Singer of Hampton, was slain in July 2004. Her body was found on a farm in the Morgarts Beach area of Isle of Wight County - she had been beaten, with the fatal attacks being seven to nine blows to the head.

Singer's death remains an unsolved crime for the Isle of Wight Sheriff's Office.

"It's extremely discouraging and this was a brutal, brutal slaying," said one of the investigators, Sgt. Randy Patrick.

Lord, of Florida, recently visited Isle of Wight County for the first time to help bring new attention to the investigation. She had tears in her eyes as she spoke about losing her first-born.

"I don't want another family to go through what we're going through," Lord said. "This person is out there and they will do this again."

Patrick says this is the case that haunts him. He and Capt. Paul Phelps say they have worked desperately to solve it and have even consulted a psychic.

Although the body was found in Isle of Wight, Patrick is not convinced the killer knew the area or lived in the county.

"A lot might think it had to been someone local to find this locality," he said. "But, then again, if you're traveling down a country road and looking for a dirt lane to dispose of something, and you see a dirt lane - that might be the lane of choice."

Investigators wish they knew more about the time leading up to Singer's death.

Singer and her boyfriend, Robert Dezern, had been involved in a bloody domestic dispute on June 29, 2004, which resulted in Singer being charged with assault, Patrick said. Singer left the home that she shared with Dezern in Hampton and checked into a Jefferson Avenue motel, then called the King James Motel, located near the James River Bridge in Newport News.

"She actually left instructions for the lady at the front desk at the time that she had been in a domestic with her boyfriend and so if he comes looking for her - please don't give that information up," Patrick said.

Singer was last seen alive on June 30, 2004, on Jefferson Avenue, walking from the motel toward a 7-Eleven. There are records that she used an ATM there.

Patrick is still hoping that someone can step forward who remembers seeing her that day. Investigators also are looking for a man who had a sexual encounter with Singer on June 30, based on DNA evidence they found on her body.

Investigators talked to Singer's boyfriend about their relationship in the days after her body was found. Blood was found in several rooms of the house shared by Dezern and Singer, but the blood was from both people, Patrick said. The house could not be definitively identified as the crime scene considering the physical confrontation between Dezern and Singer on June 29, Patrick said.

Dezern was a "person of interest" for the investigation, but he is not considered a suspect, Patrick said.

"Is it possible Carrie Singer met up with some deranged person? I suppose that's possible. But I highly doubt it," Patrick said. "I do believe this truly fits a crime of passion, absolutely."

Dezern continues to deny any involvement in her death and says he never saw Singer after their fight on June 29. He also passed a polygraph test immediately after Singer's body was discovered, but Patrick said he would like to administer another test.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it and I don't know who did," Dezern said.

Meanwhile, Singer's mom is taking advantage of her trip to Virginia to remind people about her daughter. She's putting up posters in some of the areas where she was last seen.

"We will never stop," Lord said. "I've been doing this for five years and will continue until this person is caught. So I will never give up on trying to find the person."

If anyone has information on what happened to Singer, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (1-888-562-5887).