Blayne Alexander

As he searched for his son, Jay's father says he couldn't stop that thought from creeping in.

What were you thinking when you saw those tire marks?

Every day you could see Mr. Lee carrying the weight for the family.

Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutcheon updated Jay's family daily.

You saw a family that was truly broken, this humble, loving family that you felt so broken for them.

That's why the chief made a promise, and it was personal.

Our team would have never had peace.

Their family would have never had peace if we didn't bring Jay home.

What was the feeling within the LGBTQ community as these days were passing with no sign of Jay?

Fear.

Every day that we woke up and there were no updates from the police, it was a nightmare.

Mississippi has no hate crime laws protecting its LGBTQ residents, and advocacy groups have consistently ranked the state as one of the least safe places for queer people in the United States.

That was weighing heavily on the minds of Jay's friends, who believed he might be targeted not only because he was openly gay, he was also a well-known drag performer.

There were definitely a lot of hate and homophobia towards Jay and the way that he presented himself.

So I definitely was scared because violence in the queer community is so prevalent that I didn't know what could have happened to him.

Within that year in the state of Mississippi, there had been two transgender people who had been killed.

Of course, Jay wasn't transgender, but part of the queer community.

Did that heighten the fear?

Definitely.

And we started to think the worst, that maybe he was hate crime.