As Warner Robins Police continue to investigate the death of Elliot Mizell, the people he left behind are trying to figure out why anyone would've wanted to hurt him.
Police aren't able to give very many details into the homicide investigation of 55-year-old Elliot Mizell but those close to him say they're trying to remember him as a good man, a giver, and a proud alum of Fort Valley State University.
St. Peter's AME Pastor Mark Pierson says on Saturday he was on his way to a wedding when he got a text that caught him by surprise.
"That he had passed. And that for some strange reason, that he would not be here," Pierson said.
Mizell was supposed to be at that wedding. But instead, police found him dead in his home and are ruling it a homicide.
Pierson says he told his congregation on Sunday not to focus on that, but to focus on the good.
"He was the kind of gentleman that was friendly to everyone. Every one whom he came in contact with. He always had a smile," Pierson said.
Juone Brown has been his friend for 20 years and said she'll remember his kind heart and love for Fort Valley State University. Brown says Mizell was also a former Houston County teacher and Robins Air Force Base employee.
Brown says his ability to raise funds for scholarships was legendary.
"I've never met anybody who could raise-- I know one award he received he had raised over $20,000 by himself," Brown said.
Which is just one of the reasons she can't understand why anyone would want to hurt him.
"Because he's done so much for so many people and the life he lived, you know he was either at church or fraternity, or something for the university, he didn't lead a life that would lead, or in your mind, to put him in any kind of danger," Brown said.
Brown and Pierson said Mizell had given no indication he was in any sort of trouble, and they both said he was not the type to fight or argue with anyone.
So while police investigate, they're trying not to wonder and instead remember.
"He loved the lord, he loved people, and he is an angel," Brown said in the pew of St. Peter's.
A former classmate and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brother, Ira Foster, says Mizell raised more than $40,000 for a scholarship in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s name over the last 23 years.
Foster also said Mizell was known for loving three things, Fort Valley State University, his church, and Alpha Phi Alpha.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68-CRIME.