The mother of a woman whose body was found in a truck in the Big Black River a year ago today said her family will press authorities in two counties and the FBI to make an arrest or arrests in the case.

&#8220She was murdered, and I know who did it, but I can’t tell you that,” Deborah Cummings said of Angela Schultz Shiers Barrentine.

Proof is a problem, because from appearances, Barrentine’s death could have been an accident.

&#8220We are still looking for evidence or information from anybody on Angela’s death, Cummings said. &#8220She is dearly missed. We just want some justice.”

Barrentine had been missing for more than eight months when the truck was found.

Then 27, she was last seen in Edwards near Belknap and Military roads driving the 1997 Ford F-150 around noon on Thanksgiving Day of 2004. Cummings said she was supposed to be at her grandparents’ house that day for dinner. When she did not show, family members alerted the Vicksburg Police Department that she was missing.

&#8220About a month later, we were asked to get involved by the family,” Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. &#8220Since then, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office have done numerous interviews. We’ve also received some assistance from the FBI in a couple of areas.”

Pace would not say how the FBI is aiding the investigation or why federal authorities were contacted.

Barrentine was a resident of 137 Cain Ridge Road. She was listed as missing until her truck was pulled from the Big Black River about a half-mile south of U.S. 80 when a drop in the river level exposed the tires of the upsidedown vehicle.

Pace said authorities had been regularly checking the river before the truck was found. It was only after the level dropped to 7.5 feet, the lowest it has been since Barrentine was reported missing, that the truck could be seen.

&#8220We were checking the river every two or three days,” he said. &#8220But it was actually dropping so low that we couldn’t get our patrol boat in the water.”

That’s when Barrentine’s sister, Stacy Hartley, insisted the sheriff’s department use a civilian boat.

&#8220Stacy contacted a friend of the family who had a small boat we could use,” Pace said. &#8220Moments later, we saw a tire.”

Authorities have speculated the truck went into the water near Warriors Trail and floated before capsizing and sinking. Cummings called the discovery &#8220the worst night.”

&#8220I was at home asleep when they came to my house after 10:30 and woke me up and told me they had found Angela’s truck,” she said. &#8220I asked them if her body was in the truck. They said they didn’t know yet and that they had to go to the sheriff’s department.”

The F-150 was removed from the Big Black River with a backhoe and taken to the sheriff’s department to be processed. Shortly after, what later proved to be Barrentine’s remains were removed.

&#8220We took the whole truck to the sheriff’s office and started the painstaking process of scooping mud out of the truck,” Pace said. &#8220Then, we recovered the body.”

He declined to provide details on evidence found inside the truck, citing an ongoing investigation, but did say no one has been excluded as a suspect in Barrentine’s death.

&#8220We are actually following leads this week that I won’t go into detail on, but we will not rule anyone out at this point,” Pace said.

At the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, Sgt. Eddie Robinson would neither confirm nor deny whether Barrentine was killed in Edwards and dumped in the Big Black River.

&#8220We really don’t know exactly what took place,” he said. &#8220But we have interviewed a person we know she was with in Edwards, which is in Hinds County, on Thanksgiving Day. We are still getting some tips and are putting them all together.”

Barrentine’s mother said she believes both sheriff’s departments will eventually solve the case.

&#8220I think they are working on it probably once a week or so, and I know Sheriff Pace is doing what he can. Somebody out there knows something, and I believe it happened in Edwards and that it had to do with drugs.”

Family members have said Barrentine struggled with narcotics off and on since she was a teen and believe that may have been the reason she went to Edwards that day.

Barrentine left behind a husband, Daniel Barrentine, and a daughter, Ginger LeAnn Shiers, now 11.

&#8220Whoever did this has taken her away from all of us and from her daughter, who still misses her,” Cummings said. &#8220A lot of times you just want to pick up the phone and call her and you can’t do it. It’s something you won’t ever forget.”

Anyone with information on the case may call the Warren County Sheriff’s Department at 601-636-1761 or the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department at 601-974-2900.