MACON, Ga. — Thirty two years ago, a Taylor County High School teacher and beloved father was gunned down in his rural Potterville home.
Purvis' cold-blooded killing turned into a cold case over the years, as decades passed with no arrests.
That's what makes the situation even more difficult for Tommy's family. They're left wondering who did this and who's gotten away with it for so long.
Purvis's sister, Judy Lawson, spoke with 13 WMAZ's Chelsea Beimfohr on Tommy Purvis Junior Road. She says the county named it after her brother.
"His smile could just make you feel batter," says Lawson.
But it's been over three decades since Lawson has seen her brother smile.
On the night of February 18, 1987, Purvis was at home with his wife and 4-year old son when he heard a knock at the front door.
GBI investigators say he opened the door and was ambushed.
"After that initial shooting, Mr. Purvis was chased inside of the house at which time he was shot again," says GBI investigator Fredrick Wimberly.
"I just fell down screaming. I couldn't believe it. It was not real to me," says Lawson.
Wimberly, says Purvis collapsed in a back bedroom and his wife called her father for help. She told investigators she did not see who shot her husband.
At the time of the shooting, Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson, was in high school.
"Everybody was scared. It just shook the whole community up," says Watson. "He was our shop teacher, liked by all the kids and students, and all the people in the community."
When Watson became Sheriff in 2005, he re-opened the case file, hoping to bring the Purvis family some answers.
"I just felt like I was kind of personally tied to it," says Watson.
"If there's such thing as hell on earth, then I've had it," Purvis's mother, Anne, told 13 WMAZ in 1996.
But after years of re-examining evidence, re-conducting interviews, even contacting cold case TV shows, Sheriff Watson came up short.
"I don't know what else we can do. But there's somebody that's responsible for it," says Watson.
"We do have a particular suspect; however, we're not releasing that information," says agent Wimberly.
Even after 32 years, Sheriff Watson and the GBI say they don't have enough evidence to charge anyone for Purvis' murder. They say it only gets more difficult as witnesses, investigators, and suspects begin to pass away.
"I just want his name back out there. I don't want him forgotten. I want people to know he was somebody and the way he was taken was so unfair," says Lawson.
Sheriff Watson says Purvis' murder is one of the few unsolved cases in Taylor county.
There is still a $27,000 reward being offered for information leading to an arrest.
If you have any information related to this case you can call the Taylor County Sheriff's office at 478-862-5444.
Or the Region 2 GBI office in Midland, Georgia at 706-565-7888.
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