BY JOHN MCCANN

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- The widow of slain Durham businessman Ronnie Sturdivant doesn't believe there's been enough action toward resolving his murder.

"I want closure," Dianne Sturdivant said. "My family needs closure.

"We need that," Sturdivant insisted.

Barry Wayne Kaalund is charged with the murder. Ronnie Sturdivant was the owner of Urban Merchants at 605 W. Chapel Hill St., across from the Durham Police Department.

Police on Aug. 30, 2008, found the body of the businessman on the basement floor of his store. He'd been shot several times, and emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.

Not long before Ronnie Sturdivant was killed, city inspectors were preparing to serve him with a violation notice after finding weeds and what was deemed junk at his property that used to be a Holiday Inn.

And that seems to be all a whole bunch of people want to talk about -- the property, not solving the murder that occurred on the property, Dianne Sturdivant said.

"People are more concerned about what I am going to do with our real estate," said Dianne Sturdivant. "I'm more so interested in what's happening with this murder case."

Kaalund is due in court on Wednesday. Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Garrell attributed some of the delay in the case to testing that needed to be done on Kaalund. But the case comparatively is moving along at a pretty good rate, he said. The goal is to solve these matters in two years, and Ronnie Sturdivant's homicide is on track with that, Garrell said.

That said, Garrell isn't discounting what Ronnie Sturdivant's loved ones are going through.

"I can understand their frustration with the process," Garrell said.

Dianne Sturdivant said she takes some comfort in knowing the man accused of killing her husband is behind bars.

"But we're still at a standstill," she said.