EVARTS, Ky. (WYMT) - Family members of former Evarts mayor Ronnie King want murder suspect Shelby Shell to pay with his life.

Jerri Mulkey says her brother was murdered in cold blood.

Police say King was found dead inside his burning home last month, his hands and ankles tied, with duct tape covering his nose and mouth.

"You don't go out and buy duct tape and gasoline and zip ties and all this, if you're just snapping," Mulkey said.

29-year-old murder suspect Shelby Shell's family has claimed he killed King because of a mental illness, but Mulkey rejects that claim. Sister Diana Perkins says King's murder is the hardest thing the family has ever endured.

"It's destroyed us. It's killed us. I mean just like killing... him being dead, it's like it's killed us," Perkins said.

Shelby Shell has maintained this whole time that he is innocent and that police have the wrong man, but Ronnie King's family says he is guilty and they want justice.

"We do want lethal injection. We're pushing for that, and we do not have any sympathy for Shelby Shell or his family," Mulkey said.

Family members say it was not King's time to go, and they can not move on until his killer pays for what he has done.

Prosecutors are waiting for the charges against Shelby Shell to be presented to the Harlan County grand jury.