It's been 12 long, heartbreaking years for the family of David Bowers.
"At night, I don't sleep," said mother Renee Drayton-Bowers. "I haven't slept in 12 years."
Bowers, who was known as "Boobie," was once the star quarterback at Steelton-Highspire High School. He was a 27-year-old father and a loving son.
"Sometimes I look out at night and see a star and I know it's him," Drayton-Bowers said. "He's letting me know that he's okay."
Back in March of 2010, Bowers was out with a friend. In the early morning hours, the two stopped at a gas station on Union Deposit Road in Lower Paxton Township.
Surveillance video from that convenience store captured the final moments of Bowers' life. That video, after all these years, was finally released to abc27.
Police say the video shows Bowers going into the store and then standing outside and making some phone calls. Police believe he was looking for another ride home.
Eventually, Bowers runs around the back of the store, out of the camera's view.
It was the last time he would be seen alive.
Police say his friend followed him around back with the car. That friend is not being named by abc27 because he has not been charged with a crime.
Fifteen minutes later, police say the friend came into the store saying Bowers was passed out drunk. He recruited someone in the store to help him load Bowers into the backseat of the car.
Police say by then, the father of two had already been fatally injured.
"More than likely he was hit, struck, crushed by a vehicle or something else that has equal force and ability to cause the injuries that he suffered," said Detective Jeff Corcoran of the Lower Paxton Township Police Department.
Corcoran says the friend then drove to visit someone on the West Shore, then back home to an apartment complex in Lower Paxton, where Bowers' body was found in the car later that same morning.
"It breaks your heart all over again to tell them (Bower's family) that right now there may not be anything more that we can do," Corcoran said. "We are hopeful, vigilant, looking and waiting, trying to find angles, hoping somebody comes forward."
Corcoran has been on the case since the very beginning. He believes what happened behind the store was likely an accident. But he says the story the friend tells doesn't match the physical evidence.
Corcoran has tried to fill in the pieces to this very complicated puzzle for years, but admits he still needs help.
"Any bit of information is potentially helpful if somebody thinks they have something and they're not sure," Corcoran said. "It doesn't hurt to reach out to us and we can examine it. That's what we're here for."
It's been a frustrating process for Bowers' sons, Tayvon and Jordyn, who are now 17 and 23.
"Playing football, looking up into the stands, I wouldn't see my dad there," Tayvon Bowers said. "It took a toll on me. That hurt."
Growing up without their father was hard. Not having answers all these years later is unthinkable.
"Please, find it in you somewhere in your heart to just tell us what you know," Tayvon said. "For my family. For my dad. Just to help us get our closure and help him rest in peace. That's it."
"I think it's more important for me for my grandkids to get the closure," Drayton-Bowers said. "I grew up with my father and to not have a father is the worst."
While so much about Bowers' death remains a mystery, what Drayton-Bowers knows for certain is that she will never stop seeking answers.
"We're just gong to continue to fight and fight," she said. "And I'm not going anywhere."
The Bowers family is now offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to closure of this case. Crimestoppers is also offering up to $2,000.
Anyone with tips is asked to contact Detective Jeff Corcoran at 717-657-5656. You can also submit an anonymous tip through the Dauphin County Crimewatch page.
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