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'It's hard not knowing': Family begs for answers in Norwood man's murder

NORWOOD, N.C. — A family is clinging to hope and begging someone to come forward with answers as to who killed an innocent man.

“It’s been hard not knowing,” said Tammy Chaney, as she held back tears while looking at pictures of her father, Johnnie Osborne.

The 75-year-old man was shot in October when someone fired several bullets through the front door of his Norwood home when he went to answer a knock at the door. He died two months later.

“Why would you do that? If you wanted money or whatever, why would you do it that way,” Chaney asked.

Investigators do not know a motive either. They said a woman Osborne was allowing to stay at the home was there when he was shot. In March, detectives charged the woman, Ashley Halstead, with felony obstruction of justice, after she allegedly gave them a false suspect.

[PAST COVERAGE: Family pleads for answers in Stanly County father's death]

Sheriff Jeff Crisco and his detectives have asked for the community’s help for months after exhausting all leads. Investigators have not gotten a single phone call.

“We always want to be able to not just close a case but to give victim’s family members closure, and it’s frustrating that we can’t do either,” Crisco said.

Crisco told Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster that physical evidence alone will not lead them to the killer, which is why it’s critical that someone speaks up.

“That’s the hardest part because I know somebody knows and they’re just not saying anything,” Chaney said.

(Johnnie Osbourne)

The case is the only homicide the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office investigated in 2018. The reward for information that leads to an arrest has increased to $2,500.

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