It’s been a year since a beloved Atlanta doctoral student was found slain inside a Birmingham shed two days after he vanished during a family Fourth of July celebration.

No one has been arrested in the homicide of 31-year-old Deundray Cottrell, and his family can’t find peace until they know for sure what happened to him.

“I couldn’t put a price or even begin to wrap my mind around what it would mean to have an answer,” said Cottrell’s sister, Angelica Harris. “Because I don’t have an answer it almost seems unreal.”

“I don’t even think as a family we can begin to heal until we have answers,” Harris said.

Once again, Cottrell’s family will gather at Harris’s East Lake home for the holiday weekend, but this year will be markedly different from last year.

“We don’t want it to be in vain, and we want to celebrate his legacy,” Harris said. “We’re still going to come together as a family to remember him, as many times as we can this weekend.”

Cottrell was the founder and CEO of SkiiBoyz Entertainment, described on the Instagram account as Atlanta’s hottest male performance trio and event hosts. He also did freelance marketing jobs, consulting for social media accounts, bartending, massage therapy and worked in photography.

At the time of his disappearance and death, Cottrell was working on his doctorate.

Cottrell and DeEric Williams had been together for more than a decade. Several years ago, 32-year-old Julian Morris joined the polyamorous relationship.

Cottrell and Morris came to Birmingham on the Fourth of July to celebrate the holiday with Harris and other family members.

About 9 p.m. that Thursday, Cottrell went inside to check on his dog and was never seen again.

Morris would go on to tell the family that he jumped off a balcony and later would say he committed suicide.

Birmingham police found Cottrell’s body about 3 p.m. that Saturday afternoon. Authorities have not publicly released how Cottrell was killed.

Harris previously spoke to AL.com about the bizarre details of the night of the disappearance and the search that followed.

Birmingham police publicly identified Morris as a person of interest, but said he would not provide a statement to police.

Birmingham attorney Victor Revill last year released a statement on behalf of Morris, saying he is a college-educated veteran who served his country as a Marine had no prior misdemeanor or felony convictions.

“Despite the false narratives that are being promulgated about him in this situation, he loved Deundray Cottrell and is currently grieving the death of his loved one,’’ Revill said at that time. “Mr. Morris wants answers as well and is awaiting those answers after a full and thorough investigation has been completed.”

Revill this week said, “Julian mourns the loss of Deundray, a person whom he was dedicated to. Like many others that loved Mr. Cottrell, he has more questions than answers and wishes for closure.”

Harris said she hasn’t spoken to Morris.

“He’s out living his life. He’s back making TikToks, doing interviews and being in front of the camera and going on as if none of this ever happened,” Harris said.

“He still has a lot of social media support and people giving him the benefit of the doubt, but the fact still remains that if you didn’t do anything, at least come and be cleared like anybody else has been,” she said. “That’s the least you can do.”

Asked for comment, Morris told AL.com, “I’d like to grieve the anniversary of my boy9friend’s death in peace. I’ve been hurt enough.”

Harris said the past year has been difficult to say the least.

“There’s a major part of our puzzle missing, and still not having any justice makes it an even harder pill to swallow,” she said.

Harris said she still reaches out to detectives to see if there is any movement or progress in the investigation.

“The answers have been depleted down to ‘you just have to wait,’” she said. “They say they’re still working on it, and I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are which is why I keep asking.”

Harris still lives in the same house.

“I refuse to leave,” she said. “That’s the last place his presence and his energy were captured. That’s the last place he was, so it would be too hard to leave.”

Harris said her brother’s slaying changed her life.

“Mentally, I’ve taken a hit. My career took a hit,” she said. “I’m having to learn how to navigate certain situations due to the trauma of those events.”

Harris said she looks at things differently, handles things differently, things that normally wouldn’t affect her.

“I can’t even process a funeral procession,” she said. “Things like that my husband does his best to shield me from because I just can’t. My anxiety is on high.”

“Because I work with the public, I had to remove myself from my job for a while because I didn’t want to have the conversations and continue to answer questions,” she said. “People still have a lot of questions, and they feel like everything got so quiet.”

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