Billboards highlight 12-year-old cold case | Crime

Five billboards in the Birmingham area featuring the face of Desta Dodson Byrd, a young woman with wavy dark blond hair and an off-the-shoulder red dress, now exhibit a strong message to the 93,000 people who will drive by the signs everyday: “Because no one should get away with murder!”

Byrd was discovered with a single bullet wound in her head in her Briarfield front yard nearly 12 years ago on Feb. 25, 1999. The Alabama Bureau of Investigations handled the case but never made any arrests. Despite more than a decade of no new leads, Byrd’s family and friends have not given up hope that one day there will be answers, and the billboards are part of their efforts to shed light on the case.

Lamar Outdoor Advertising donated the space on the electronic billboards which appear at five locations around Birmingham:

1. Hoover, near the Galleria, on Highway 150 North

2. Fultondale's main artery, Walker Chapel Road North

3. Roebuck, on Walker Chapel Road North

4. Homewood, on Oxmoor Road East 

5. Gardendale, on Fieldstone Road

A few years ago, a group of Byrd’s friends formed the website JusticeForDesta.org to share information about Byrd’s death and promote awareness about her unsolved case. According to the website, investigators have had “a strong suspect in this case from the very beginning,” although no one has ever been arrested or charged for the crime.

"As a result of a crime not investigated, a crime overlooked by the media, and a crime forgotten by the ABI, someone has gotten away with murder," the members of JusticeForDesta.org claim on the site.

The creators of the website and a Facebook page of the same name identify themselves as the friends, family, and loved ones of Desta.

“More importantly, we're the ones who refuse to allow her to be forgotten. We're the ones who, more than a decade after her murder, not only believe it is possible, but insist that the justice system work for Desta,” they say on the site.

Besides displaying Byrd's photo and website on the billboards, the group is also offering a $30,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons involved in her death.

For the 12th anniversary of Byrd’s death, the members of JusticeForDesta.org have scheduled a candle light vigil in Linn Park Feb. 26 from 5 to 8 p.m.