Marilyn Yelder woke up this morning thinking about her twin brother, as she does most mornings.

But today is different.

It’s Marilyn’s 38th birthday. It would have been Marlin Yelder’s birthday too, but nearly one year ago he was found slain in an illegal dumping site in Birmingham.

“It still seems unreal,’’ Marilyn said. “On days like to today especially, I wake up hoping we can just press fast forward to the end but that’s really hard to do when you don’t have answers, especially a year later.”

“He was taken so callously for no reason,’’ she said. “It’s one of those day I wish we could just skip and go to the next day.”

A passerby made the discovery about 10:17 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in the 4200 block of 48th Avenue North.

Marlin was found face down in a pile of trash in an illegal dumping site in the east Birmingham community.

Police said a person who picks up items in the area found the body and asked someone to call 911.

Yelder was officially pronounced dead on the scene at 10:36 a.m.

Police were initially unclear if foul play was involved, but the coroner’s office determined he had been shot.

He left behind a son, who is now 15.

Marilyn did not hear from her brother on their last birthday, which was unusual. “I just figured he was doing his own thing,’’ she said.

Still, they usually touched base with each other every couple of weeks.

“We never would have expected anything like this,’’ she said. ‘

The twins were raised in the Ensley community, graduating from Ensley High School.

Marlin was affectionately known to his friends by the nickname Sleepy. He worked on cars and was a handyman throughout his community.

“He was well loved,’’ she said.

The final moments of her brother’s life haunt her. What happened? What was he feeling?

“The most hurtful part of the whole ordeal is whatever he did, no matter what he did, if he did anything, if you made the decision to kill him, why did you have to throw him away like trash,’’ she said. “That’s what I’ll never get over.”

“We came into this world together and I never expected for either of us to have to bury each other,’’ she said. “I wonder, ‘Did he suffer? Was he scared?’ I have a lot of questions.”

To lose a sibling is hard. To lose a twin is harder, she said.

“We were adopted and with twins, it’s a real bond,’’ Marilyn said. “There’s an emptiness. There is definitely a feeling that a piece of me is missing.”

“When it comes to blood relations,” she said, “my brother was all I had.”

Marilyn said it’s hard to watch and read the news,

“One, you’re seeing the continued violence and two, you’re seeing other families get answers and you’re just stuck in limbo with your hands tied and there’s nothing you can really do,’’ she said.

Marilyn is frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation.

“I know for a fact it can be solved,’’ she said. “The unfortunate part is if I could take matters into my hands, it would be done but I understand there is a process, and I think there is more that should be done.”

“I don’t think the information that I’ve sent in is being taken seriously,’’ she said. “Like I said, if I had the option to do this myself, it would be solved.”

She said it’s been a hard year for her family. Marilyn’s stepfather was killed in a murder-suicide also in 2024.

Marlin’s son is holding up, she said, but he lives out of town and didn’t get to see his father often because he is an active athlete.

“To not have seen his father in almost a year, and the last time you see him is at a closed casket, so he’s not doing well,’’ she said.

Marilyn said she wants people to know Marlin had a family who cared about him.

“He didn’t bother anybody,’’ she said. “He wasn’t just out there wayward, and nobody cared about it.”

“He belonged to a family that loved him,’’ she said, “and deserves answers.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.