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Jacksonville man missing for nearly a year presumed dead

The family of a Jacksonville man is desperately trying to find out what happened to him and bring his body home.

Jerome Dempsey Johnson, 58, hasn't been seen in nearly a year but evidence found inside his home leads police and family to believe he's dead.

"One of the last memories that I have is when he walked his sister down the aisle at her wedding. He walked her halfway and the other brother walked her the other half," said Janie W. Gainer, Johnson's aunt.

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He was known by his family and friends as "Dollar Bill."

"Because every time they saw him all he had was a dollar so they started calling him 'Dollar Bill' and that's how mostly everybody knew him as 'Dollar Bill,'" said his sister Vivian Banks-Clark.

Action News Jax Katie McKee met Banks-Clark last April. She gave us a picture of her brother as she watched investigators comb through his home on West 22nd Street .

"When I saw you a year ago, I had just gotten the news that my brother was possibly missing," Banks-Clark said.

Just hours later, the case turned into a homicide investigation after a significant amount of blood was found in Johnson's bedroom.

"I don't even have words to express how I felt. When they told me they couldn't find him, all I could do is just cry, cry, cry," Banks-Clark said.

Police said his landlord tried to collect rent from Johnson and found all that blood.

His sister tells us it must have been horrific, because after the investigation wrapped, she was told by police not to go inside.

"'From the scene that's in the house I don't want you to go to the house,'" Banks-Clark said.

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Our crew stayed at the scene for hours on that Sunday, April 1, 2016, watching as police collected evidence from inside the home and even outside, at one point bagging a shovel from the backyard.

Almost a year later, there are still no answers for his family.

"I was coming home the other day and I thought I saw him. I turned around just to go back and make sure that wasn't my brother," Banks-Clark said.

Johnson leaves behind a daughter and granddaughter.

His family said that they hope someone will come forward so they can give Johnson a proper burial.

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