KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Dan Frye and his family are fighting to keep the man who shot and killed their father behind bars.

Bill Frye was shot and killed outside of the Corner Market & Deli on Maryville Pike in 1990.

“Two juveniles had been in his store and had argued with him over a pack of cigarettes,” Dan Frye said. “He refused to sell a pack of cigarettes to them and they got angry and left.”

Investigators determined those juveniles went back to the store and killed Frye.

“The employee who was there with my father recognized them in the crowd scene and had told police that they had been there earlier, so they were picked up that night for questioning,” Frye said.

The pair were questioned by detectives and released. The case went cold for six years until police received a tip.

Jimmy Ray Cureton was arrested. He was 17 years old at the time of the shooting.

“He had kept a scrapbook of all the police clippings, stories that my family had been doing for six years,” Frye said.

That day remains heavy on the minds of Dan Frye and his sisters 33 years later.

“A homicide reoccurs every day for that family for the rest of their life,” Frye said. “It’s in our memories and present when we are celebrating events that that loved one is missing from.”

Cureton has a parole hearing on September 5. Frye has a petition to keep the man who murdered his dad behind bars.

“I am convinced if he has let go, he is not redeemed enough to be able to contribute anything back to society and he may re-offend again,” Frye said. “That is every family’s biggest fear is that someone else is going to suffer what they went through.”