CAMP HILL, Ala. (WRBL) —Sixteen years after postal driver Tony Harrelson was gunned down outside the Camp Hill Post Office, his family's heartbreak still runs deep. His two daughters and sister returned to the very place they lost him, standing where his route ended far too soon, hoping someone will finally speak up. Investigators are once again pleading for information, offering a $250,000 reward for the tip that leads to justice — and gives a grieving family the answers they've waited more than a decade find.
Harrelson was shot and killed between 5:45 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. on Friday, October 2, 2009, while working his route at the Camp Hill Post Office. Investigators believe robbery was the motive. The case remains unsolved.
For Harrelson's daughters, Jessalyn Chaney and Jennifer Rader, and his sister Tonya Phillips, the pain of losing him still runs deep.
Chaney, who was just 18 when her father was killed, remembers him as a hardworking, supportive dad who taught her how to play pool and made time for his daughters even after long workdays.
"He still had so much life to live," Chaney said. "He was just out here doing his job, working to provide for us. He deserves justice, and we hope this reward will bring someone forward."
Chaney believes her father's killer may have known his postal route and that he was carrying money and checks as part of his contractor duties that day. "It wasn't personal — it was a robbery," she said. "But someone knows something."
Jennifer Rader was 26 at the time of her father's death. She remembers getting the call from her stepmother and rushing to the scene, only to find her world changed forever.
"Having a parent murdered is one thing — but not knowing who did it is something else entirely," she said. "It eats you up."
Rader says the renewed attention to her father's case, and the larger reward, gives her hope.
"With social media and more people sharing the story, I really feel this time we might get somewhere," she said. "If I could just see and know the person, I could forgive. But you can't forgive what you don't know."
Harrelson's sister, Tonya Phillips, remembers her brother as an athletic, big-hearted man who loved sports and family.
"Every Saturday, he'd come over to watch Alabama football," Phillips said. "He was 17 years older than me, but I adored him."
Phillips says the years since her brother's death have been filled with unanswered questions. Their mother and another sister have since passed away without closure.
"I've walked into stores and thought, 'Did you do it?'" she said. "That feeling eats you alive. We just want to know why — we want answers."
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is working alongside the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Department, the Alabama Bureau of Investigations, and the Camp Hill Police Department. Authorities are urging the public not to attempt to approach or apprehend anyone connected to this case, but instead to contact law enforcement with information.
If you have any information, contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 (say "Law Enforcement") and reference Case No. 1801425.
All information will be kept strictly confidential.
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