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They met at the Walmart in Sullivan, just off of Interstate 44, and found some open space in the parking lot. Dale got to work. He was patient and kind, and he got the job done.

Her uncle was unselfish that way, Ryerson says.

“He would have helped anybody,� she says. “He was just a good-hearted person.�

She speaks of her Uncle Dale in the past tense because last month he died an unimaginable death, caused to some degree by his good-hearted nature.

One day in October, Dale Ryerson gave a ride to Cody Lee Hunt, who had recently been let out of prison. The men later ended up in some sort of dispute. Ryerson, who was 63, ended up dead.

“He was always giving people rides,� says Julie Hurst, another of Ryerson’s nieces. “He loved to help people out.�

According to court records, Hunt on Oct. 21 came to the apartment complex in Sullivan where Ryerson lived. He had a “long gun which he was trying to conceal,� records show.

A neighbor heard a verbal altercation and later saw Hunt dragging “what appeared to be a lifeless body� into a Jeep Cherokee. The next day, the Jeep was found on fire in woods near Irondale, in neighboring Washington County. Ryerson’s body was inside.

Within days, Hunt was charged with multiple crimes in Washington County, including abandonment of a corpse; knowingly burning physical evidence; tampering with physical evidence; and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was sent back to prison on a parole violation from a 2021 conviction of tampering with a motor vehicle.

But Hunt has not been charged with murder in Franklin County, where Ryerson was killed.

And that has his family up in arms.

“It’s aggravating because the prosecutor has ignored us,� Kathy Ryerson says.

She’s called the prosecutor, Matthew Becker, multiple times but says she has never gotten a return call. Hurst, who lives in south ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, also has called. Dale Ryerson’s daughter has called.

None of them understand why the police report can include vivid details — including a witness saying Hunt told them “he had killed that guy� — without a murder charge being filed.

It’s not the first time the prosecutor has been criticized for a lack of communication. Earlier this summer, St. Clair Police Chief Michael Wirt turned to Facebook to explain to city residents why some alleged industrial cable thieves hadn’t been charged with a crime.

“I would like the citizens of St. Clair to know that your police department has been working hard to arrest all persons involved in criminal activity in our city,� Wirt wrote. “We try to have a working relationship with all law enforcement entities in Franklin County, however, lately we have experienced several roadblocks with the prosecutor’s office.�

So what’s the delay in the case of Dale Ryerson?

Becker didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

Hurst says the family just wants some communication. An investigator with the Sullivan Police Department told them the prosecutor may be planning to take the case to a grand jury, which would explain the delay. But family members say they can’t get Becker to tell them anything.

So they take turns calling and trying to make sure there is justice for a man who was always the first to help someone in need.

“If he could have just answered a phone call to just one person and said it would take some time, that would be OK,� Kathy Ryerson told me. “All we want is reassurance that the case isn’t being pushed aside.�