BATON ROUGE (NBC33) — One year later, and raw emotions still surface from a mother whose son was murdered.

"We've had our times to share tears and cry on each other and prayed and tried to stay strong," said Rhonda Billoups, while holding back tears. "In the midst of the tears, i know he's happy and we're happy."

Billoups' son, 17-year old Darius Augustus was shot and killed on the levee in downtown Baton Rouge. A bystander hanging out with friends when struck by a stray bullet. His family held an anniversary celebration of his life Sunday, rather than mourning his death.

"He was a happy kid," said Pamela Duncan, Augustus' aunt. "All he knew was happy. Anytime he was around, you had to smile and be happy also."

As friend's told stories of fond memories, candle's were lit for Darius. Closure stilll hard to find, as his killer remains on the loose.

"At least we'd be OK if we knew who did it," said Amber Eaton, a childhood friend. "We still don't know anything. All we know is he's gone for no reason."

His family still holds out hope that justice can be served. That there's someone out there that knows who the killer is.

"With that many people on the levee, somebody knows something," said Billoups. "Someone knew something, (we're) just asking them to come forward."