A year has passed since a Jay Harper, of Southbury, died on a business trip in Florida and the search for answers in the case continues.
The 47-year-old father of three had traveled to Deerfield Beach, Florida for a business conference in October 2012 and his body was found on the beach.
“We're not going to forget this. We're not going to let this go,” said Karen Harper, Jay’s widow.
On Monday, the Harper family went to that beach to help authorities by passing out fliers.
“We're coming back here to keep his face in the public. We don't know what happened to him. We want to find out what happened,” Karen Harper said.
Jay Harper was an executive vice president for Coverall, a cleaning company based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and investigators said he had booked a room at a hotel to attend a conference.
After having a few drinks at the hotel bar, he was seen speaking to a woman, who officials said was found intoxicated on a bench by the beach.
Local
Police have ruled the woman out as a suspect, but they’re looking at all the evidence, including the fact that someone stole that woman’s purse.
Investigators have not yet released a cause of Harper’s death, but they are investigating it as a homicide.
That’s something his family cannot begin to grasp.
"We need peace for our family,” said Karen Harper.
Harper’s family is offering a $5,000 reward for information that lead to an arrest to go along with $3,000 reward from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
“[He was] the kindest, most caring-and he had a great sense of humor,” said Diane Harper, the victim’s mother.
