‘I don’t want this case to go cold’: Calls for justice continue four years after Winston-Salem murder

By Jackie Pascale

Click here for updates on this story

    WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (WXII) — Every year on April 1, Dria Watkins said she feels like her body shuts down. It’s the anniversary of the death of her then-fiancé, Jerry Watkins Jr.

The 28-year-old was found shot to death in a yard in Winston-Salem in the early morning hours of that Monday in 2019. It was behind the house at 200 E. Clemmonsville Road, just down the road from where Watkins lived.

Dria Watkins said she got a call from her fiancé’s aunt that morning about Watkins getting into a fight and she was told to get to the neighborhood quickly.

“I felt it was bad,” Dria said, recalling pulling off the highway to see cop cars flooding the front of the neighborhood entrance. “I couldn’t even turn in. I stopped and I just lost it.”

In the days after, Dria said police asked her less about the events leading up to her fiancé’s death and more about his involvement with drugs.

“He wasn’t in no trouble, he wasn’t a troublemaker,” she said. “They were asking, ‘Was he was in the streets?’ and things like that. But he was a family man. He worked. He wasn’t no bad guy. He was real caring and loving. If you knew him, you would love him.”

Dria works to honor Watkins’ life by keeping his memory alive for his kids, including their child they had together, who is now four-years-old.

“I tell them, ‘Daddy is always with you,'” she said. “Remember him for being loving. And his smile; his energy just would light up a room.”

She also wants to honor Watkins by getting justice for him, pushing police to find his killer. Four years since the original police report was filed, Winston-Salem Police told WXII they had no new information in this investigation.

“There’s really no communication, no updates from police,” Dria Watkins said. “I just don’t want nobody to forget about him. I don’t want this case to go cold. For the sake of not even me, but for his kids. They deserve justice; his mom, dad, siblings. He was just gone too soon.”

Anyone with any information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.