MULGA, Ala. (WIAT) — The family of an Alabama man is searching for answers after his body was discovered along the side of a Jefferson County road back in May. The family of 45-year-old Dustin Butler is questioning the events that led to his death.

Butler’s family has been placing crosses near where his body was found and all along Slope Drive. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported a body found by a passerby on May 3. His family said that was 10 days after he was last heard from.

Deputies said the body was in the later stages of decomposition. Butler’s daughter Savannah Harry said they have not been able to have a proper burial because of this.

“All that was stripped from our family because he was basically unrecognizable,” Harry said.

Harry said they were not able to contact him after he went to see someone he had just started talking to. Since that time, they have not been able to locate any of his possessions except for his truck.

The family reports that investigators found his Red Dodge pickup truck with new lights, changed to the color white and a GMC logo on it about a month after his body was found.

“That’s why we need witnesses, we need someone to come forward if they saw someone out there,” Harry said. “We just want answers. We just want to know what happened to my dad and why they deemed him so unworthy of calling the police. If something happened, call the police. If there was an accident, call the police – say something. Give yourself up now. But you took him to the side of the road and dumped him like he was nothing.”

They worry Butler was set up and said the last person to speak with him on the phone got cut off mid-conversation the night of April 23.

His mother, Teresa Duchock Butler, encouraged anyone who has information to come forward and honor their own legacy.

“Your children are eventually going to find out what you were or what you did,” Duchock Butler said. “Do the right thing now so they can be proud of you that you did have enough heart to do the right thing.”

Butler’s family continues to beg for prayers and answers.

“We are here because we want to recognize the human that he was and the legacy that he will leave in making sure that we help prevent this maybe from happening to someone else,” his sister Tara Wood said. “Nothing’s going to bring him back – but having answers and just knowing what happened I think will let us move on.”

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office reports that Butler’s heart stopped from a fentanyl overdose and has been ruled as accidental at this point. Deputies are continuing their investigation.

Butler’s family launched a ‘Justice for Dustin Butler’ Facebook page with the hope that someone will come forward with information to help them find closure.