There’s a missing piece in the close-knit Richard family, and they still don’t know why.

Late in December of 2021, 46-year-old Michael Richard, of Hoover, was found dead in his loaner vehicle outside of the abandoned and mostly burned Knights Inn motel in Bessemer.

A gunshot to the heart took Michael away from his parents, Max and Eileen, and his five siblings.

More than a year later, police and family are still searching for answers in his death.

“What a devastation it is for everybody,” said Crime Stoppers Executive Director Bob Copus.

“Sometimes the ‘why’ is more important than the ‘who’ to some of these families.’’

Michael was an urban explorer who had amassed more than 325,000 followers on his TikTok page – AloneInTheDark.

Urban explorers explore man-made structures – usually abandoned – and document it on camera. It’s about the thrill, the fear, the unknown.

“No one has still really wrapped their head around it,’’ brother Mark Richard said of Michael’s death. “No one knows why.”

“We know he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been, and we warned him about that a million times,’’ Mark said.

Michael was found dead about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30,2021, outside the dilapidated motel on Ninth Avenue S.W.

He was asleep inside a neon yellow Hyundai Sonata that he was driving while his own car was in the shop.

His wallet was gone, but his cell phone was still in the vehicle. Police were only able to identify him from his Amazon employee ID badge.

The Richard family, which has passed out numerous fliers in the Bessemer area, sat down with AL.com and Crime Stoppers to talk about their loved one and their hopes for bringing more attention to his killing.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward, and the family has also pitched in $5,000 for a total of $10,000.

“It’s really been hard but it’s not surprising,’’ father, Max, said of the lack of an arrest. “It happened at a place where there was no electricity, no cameras. It was off the beaten path.”

Michael was born in Louisiana but raised in Hoover where he attended Berry High School through the 10th grade.

Though a genius, his family said, Michael struggled with structure and with social skills. He was just different.

“He had to have a lot of extra care through school and growing up,’’ Max said.

“He was a very brilliant kid, but he had trouble applying himself.”

Eventually Richard got his GED and then a networking engineering degree from Virginia College, but still did not work.

His parents continued to help support him through adulthood, even after he met a woman online who moved to Alabama to live with him.

Eventually, Michael went to work in packaging at Amazon with hopes of eventually working his way into the IT department.

He thrived on the attention he received on TikTok.

“He would tour places and broadcast alone,’’ his brother said. “He did it all by himself and he did it at night.”

“He was very lonely,’’ his brother said. “That’s why the social media platform was so attractive to him.”

“He could be this brave guy,’’ he said. “He could be whoever he wanted to be.”

“He had been there (the motel) several times before and the Bessemer police had warned him about being there,’’ he said.

Michael was very much against drugs and alcohol, and didn’t use either, his family said.

“He would take food to squatters there, and to homeless in Birmingham and Southside,” his father said.

“Michael was one of those kids who had an unbelievably giving heart.”

“Michael was a kind, loving, intelligent, creative, giving and adventurous person. He had a radiant smile, outgoing personality, great sense of humor and a contagious laugh. He had a compassionate heart and passion for the poor, and needy,’’ his obituary read.

“He was always sympathetic to those who struggled in life. He would give the belongings he had away to someone else in need. He spent much of his free time serving the homeless, providing food, blankets, companionship, or whatever was needed. Michael had a zest for life.”

Though Michael and his girlfriend had been together for about five years, they eventually broke up.

She had grown close to the Richard family, but they said she didn’t show up to the funeral and has not been seen or heard from by then since Michael died.

The family learned that Michael’s apartment lease had expired, and he had been sleeping in his car, though they don’t know for how long.

On the day he was found dead, he had gotten off work about 4 a.m. and then had likely gone to a nearby Jack’s before he went to the abandoned motel to sleep.

It was about 12 hours later that his body was discovered.

“We’ve got very few tips,’’ Copus of Crime Stoppers said.

Max said Michael’s death has been devastating to the family.

“When somebody dies, it’s one thing but when they murdered, there’s a whole different sting to it,’’ he said.

The family manages to find some joy and laughter in the reminiscing of Michael and his brainy antics, like the time he devised a roach electric chair or another time that he hacked into a local radio station’s frequency to talk to his brother while driving home for school.

FCC officials paid a visit to their home after that escapade.

“We try to keep Michael alive through those memories,’’ said sister, Kelly Sides. “He’s very much alive to us. We just have to live without him.”

Anyone with information on Michael’s slaying is asked to call Bessemer police at 205-425-2411, the Tip Line at 205- 428-3541 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.