Police hope billboards will help solve Franklin murder case

FRANKLIN, Ind. (AP) - Billboards seeking leads in an unsolved murder case have popped up along a busy highway in central Indiana.

Police hope the three billboards that recently went up on Interstate 65 will prompt someone to come forward with information about the stabbing deaths of Blake and Chynna Dickus. The 10-year-old boy and his stepmother were found dead in their Franklin home in July 2006.

Blake's mother, Christina Dickus, said she still wears his handprint around her neck.

"It just really hurts inside," Christina Dickus told WTHR-TV (http://bit.ly/1BQEm4Y ). "This person that stole from us. Stole my son's life."

Authorities say Sean Dickus found his son and wife dead, and police cleared him in their investigation. No other suspects have been identified through nearly 500 leads in the past nine years.

But investigators refuse to call it a cold case, and four detectives are still actively working it.

"This affects the entire community and the quality of life here in Franklin," Franklin Police Det. Sgt. John Borgess said. "I don't think there's an officer on this department who probably doesn't have a conversation with family, friends, or someone else who asks, 'Hey, have you ever solved that case?'"

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. The signs are located near the County Line Road exit in Johnson County, on the Marion-Boone County line and along State Road 135 near Bargersville.