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WELCOME
I started this group because my husband was murdered in a home-invasion robbery 10 years ago on June 25, 1997 in Stone Mountain, GA. This, after we had moved here from Los Angeles to get our pre-teen kids away from the gangs and crime. The Dekalb County law enforcement officials, dealing with its own scandals and corruption, did little to investigate the murder and even less in the way of communication and sensitivity towards our family. I had to have the case reopened three times after learning of it being closed on my own - no one called me to say a thing. Finally my persistence paid off when a grand jury indicted a suspect on January 18, 2007. He was already in custody in New Jersey for parole violations so Dekalb County thought it would suffice to FAX his felony arrest warrant to NJ. Three weeks later, we were told that the suspect had escaped just a few days after the indictment. No one in Dekalb had followed through to see if the warrant had indeed been received by NJ. As a result, Essex County, NJ released the suspect on bond, with an electronic monitoring device. Once he discovered that he had a murder ticket on his head in Georgia, he promptly cut off his bracelet and fled. No one, in two jurisdictions missed him for THREE WEEKS. He was finally recaptured in Richmond, VA on April 29 and extradited by to Georgia on May 2. We are now awaiting his arraignment which may happen "sometime in September".
My children and I created our own "closure" 10 years ago by not putting a question mark where the Lord has placed a period. But "justice" has been a horse of a different color. One cannot get on with their lives until the justice process is completed - one way or another. Even if the killer is not convicted, it will be over for us. As it stands now, we are living like we have a large open scab that the legal system keeps throwing salt in by not doing the job for which it has been paid.
I am a strong person but this is about to break me. Being continually victimized by "the system" is worse than what happened on June 25, 1997.
You can read more about this journey on my personal website "The Loose Book" at www.theloosebook.com view link
Now that you know about me, please share your stories. If there is anything that I can do to help you keep your case from going cold, please holla out. That has been virtually what my whole life has been about this past decade. If you just want to talk or vent, do that also.
My children and I created our own "closure" 10 years ago by not putting a question mark where the Lord has placed a period. But "justice" has been a horse of a different color. One cannot get on with their lives until the justice process is completed - one way or another. Even if the killer is not convicted, it will be over for us. As it stands now, we are living like we have a large open scab that the legal system keeps throwing salt in by not doing the job for which it has been paid.
I am a strong person but this is about to break me. Being continually victimized by "the system" is worse than what happened on June 25, 1997.
You can read more about this journey on my personal website "The Loose Book" at www.theloosebook.com view link
Now that you know about me, please share your stories. If there is anything that I can do to help you keep your case from going cold, please holla out. That has been virtually what my whole life has been about this past decade. If you just want to talk or vent, do that also.
Sticky Message
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
I'd like to welcome any new members to the group. I haven't been as active as I should due to my fight to get my murdered husband's case to trial after 11 years. More about that later.
Thanks to those of you who have shared your stories here.
Always,
Linda Lou
Thanks to those of you who have shared your stories here.
Always,
Linda Lou
Sticky Message
FINAL INJUSTICE
I just want to share the conclusion of my long journey throughout the legal system following the murder of my husband in June 1997. After fighting to keep the case from going cold, having it reopened three times - once with help of the Governor of Georgia - we finally got an indictment in January 2007. Three weeks later, the Dekalb County (GA) District Attorney's office called to tell me that the suspect had "escaped". Why? Because they FAXED his felony murder warrant to Essex County, NJ where the suspect was being held on unrelated charges and never checked to see if the fax was received. So the suspect removed his electronic bracelet and fled the state. Surprisingly, no one missed him, in two jurisdictions, for THREE WEEKS! He was finally picked up four months later and extradited to Georgia in May 2007. The case went to trial on July 21, 2008. After a short two days, the case went to the jury on the 24th. Just hours after the start of deliberation, the judge declared a mistrial "based on an omission" by the prosecutor during trial. My family was devastated. When the prosecutor asked me if I wanted him to retry the case, I told him "No". Due to a shoddy investigation, a highly circumstantial case, and poor choices made my the DA's office (making a deal with the more violent co-conspirator to get him to testify against the suspect), along with a county's law enforcement departments awash with scandal and corruption, I was afraid there would be an acquittal, with double jeopardy attaching. Plus, I didn't think it was fair to try one suspect, pitting his alleged partner against him in court. Either both should be tried or no one should be tried. I wanted the same justice for the defendant as I fought so hard for on behalf of my husband. Otherwise, it would be a hollow victory.
I'm tired of begging the system to do the job that the taxpayers are paying them to do. I can't put another day, hour, minute, second of my life into this. "Closure"? There's no such thing. Closure is leaving the courtroom after a conviction with your lost family member beside you. Nothing will bring my husband back. My son, now 26, has lived 12 years without a father - at a time when a young boy really needed a man to show him how to be a man. I did the best that I could but I'm a mother, not a father. My daughter will not have her father walk her down the aisle or be able to share the "Father-Daughter" dance with him at her wedding. I will not have anyone to sit on the porch with, rocking together, drinking sweet tea, and watching our grandchildren grow up. No, we will never have closure. No one who loses a loved one to violence will ever have closure. But we all deserve JUSTICE. Without it, we can't heal. We can't start our new lives until the justice system has done its job.
So I now go forth, with a part of me missing. Every time I watch a police show and the homicide detective on the case exclaims "I have my pride in this. I can't rest until the perpetrator is caught", I get pissed off. I want to call the Governor, the Attorney General, the President - GOD! Anyone to help me get pass this. I say that I'm finished but I'm really not. I can't. A part of me is still in that courtroom, suspended in time, on July 21, 2008, with "mistrial" as my middle name.
But, at least, I know that I did my very best for my husband. It's hard, it hurts, but I fought the good fight. That was my decision and I must live with it.
Each of you has to decide to either forgive and forget or fight like a tiger to get justice. Either way, the control will be in your hands. Don't let your tragedy control your life. Make your own justice and OWN IT!
Good luck to all of you. Stay strong.
Linda Lou
I'm tired of begging the system to do the job that the taxpayers are paying them to do. I can't put another day, hour, minute, second of my life into this. "Closure"? There's no such thing. Closure is leaving the courtroom after a conviction with your lost family member beside you. Nothing will bring my husband back. My son, now 26, has lived 12 years without a father - at a time when a young boy really needed a man to show him how to be a man. I did the best that I could but I'm a mother, not a father. My daughter will not have her father walk her down the aisle or be able to share the "Father-Daughter" dance with him at her wedding. I will not have anyone to sit on the porch with, rocking together, drinking sweet tea, and watching our grandchildren grow up. No, we will never have closure. No one who loses a loved one to violence will ever have closure. But we all deserve JUSTICE. Without it, we can't heal. We can't start our new lives until the justice system has done its job.
So I now go forth, with a part of me missing. Every time I watch a police show and the homicide detective on the case exclaims "I have my pride in this. I can't rest until the perpetrator is caught", I get pissed off. I want to call the Governor, the Attorney General, the President - GOD! Anyone to help me get pass this. I say that I'm finished but I'm really not. I can't. A part of me is still in that courtroom, suspended in time, on July 21, 2008, with "mistrial" as my middle name.
But, at least, I know that I did my very best for my husband. It's hard, it hurts, but I fought the good fight. That was my decision and I must live with it.
Each of you has to decide to either forgive and forget or fight like a tiger to get justice. Either way, the control will be in your hands. Don't let your tragedy control your life. Make your own justice and OWN IT!
Good luck to all of you. Stay strong.
Linda Lou
KEEP THE FAITH!!!
I started this group months ago and we only had about 2 members for a long time. Then I got caught up with preparing for an arraignment in our long awaited trial. But we have acquired members even without my help! Welcome to everyone who came aboard while I was gone and to the members who have been so active.
I thought that it was hard enough to keep a murder case from going cold for almost a decade but I now think that facing the actual proceedings may be much worse. All of the hearings and delays can be stressful on the victim's family and that of the family of the accused. I strongly believe that I person is innocent until proven guilty but even if responsible for the crime, their family is impacted also by the actions of the defendant. In our case, if the suspect did commit the murder, I hope that he will plead "Guilty" and save both our family and his a lot of stress and grief. But if he is innocent, I pray that he be given a fair trial and acquitted. We live in the state of Georgia and a lot of African-American males are over-charged here or harassed for no good reason. (We have a well-worn "offense" called "DWB - Driving While Black". Lord help you if your teenaged son is driving your car - it will spend more time pulled over on the side of the road than it does actually driving down the road!)
I wish the best to everyone here who is waiting for an arrest, going through the judicial process, or recovering from a verdict. I say that there is no such thing as "closure" - we can only hope for justice which means getting a case properly investigated and securing an arrest. You can't bank your happiness on a verdict. If "Guilty", it won't bring back your loved one. If "Not Guilty", you will only go through life with "unfinished business".
I fought hard to keep our case from going cold and getting an indictment. Now it is in the hands of the court system and may be in the hands of 12 common people like us. I can't wait for that or live with those odds - it only takes 1 person to hang a jury. Then there's a retrial. Or a plea deal. Or a pardon process. WE ARE LETTING THIS GO RIGHT NOW! This has taken up 10 years of the lives of me and my children. Enough is enough!
But I am going to pray for everyone else who is going through this trauma. If your law enforcement officials are not working on your case, stay on them. Write your state governor, contact the media, call the lead detective once a week. I firmly believe that it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I know that I wouldn't shut up, getting our case reopened three times, and acted a fool until we got an arrest.
I thought that it was hard enough to keep a murder case from going cold for almost a decade but I now think that facing the actual proceedings may be much worse. All of the hearings and delays can be stressful on the victim's family and that of the family of the accused. I strongly believe that I person is innocent until proven guilty but even if responsible for the crime, their family is impacted also by the actions of the defendant. In our case, if the suspect did commit the murder, I hope that he will plead "Guilty" and save both our family and his a lot of stress and grief. But if he is innocent, I pray that he be given a fair trial and acquitted. We live in the state of Georgia and a lot of African-American males are over-charged here or harassed for no good reason. (We have a well-worn "offense" called "DWB - Driving While Black". Lord help you if your teenaged son is driving your car - it will spend more time pulled over on the side of the road than it does actually driving down the road!)
I wish the best to everyone here who is waiting for an arrest, going through the judicial process, or recovering from a verdict. I say that there is no such thing as "closure" - we can only hope for justice which means getting a case properly investigated and securing an arrest. You can't bank your happiness on a verdict. If "Guilty", it won't bring back your loved one. If "Not Guilty", you will only go through life with "unfinished business".
I fought hard to keep our case from going cold and getting an indictment. Now it is in the hands of the court system and may be in the hands of 12 common people like us. I can't wait for that or live with those odds - it only takes 1 person to hang a jury. Then there's a retrial. Or a plea deal. Or a pardon process. WE ARE LETTING THIS GO RIGHT NOW! This has taken up 10 years of the lives of me and my children. Enough is enough!
But I am going to pray for everyone else who is going through this trauma. If your law enforcement officials are not working on your case, stay on them. Write your state governor, contact the media, call the lead detective once a week. I firmly believe that it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I know that I wouldn't shut up, getting our case reopened three times, and acted a fool until we got an arrest.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS.
I would like to take this time to welcome our most recent members aboard. Please share your stories and any ideas that you may have to help others get justice. I will doing a post in a few days of what I had to do to keep my husband's murder case from going cold. I am presently trying to build a list of individual "Cold Case Squads" around the country who are not current law enforcement employees but are retired detectives and forensics experts.
Hang in there and please keep up the hope.
Hang in there and please keep up the hope.
Let me introduce myself.....
I started this group because my husband was murdered in a home-invasion robbery 10 years ago on June 25, 1997 in Stone Mountain, GA. This, after we had moved here from Los Angeles to get our pre-teen kids away from the gangs and crime. The Dekalb County law enforcement officials, dealing with its own scandals and corruption, did little to investigate the murder and even less in the way of communication and sensitivity towards our family. I had to have the case reopened three times after learning of it being closed on my own - no one called me to say a thing. Finally my persistence paid off when a grand jury indicted a suspect on January 18, 2007. He was already in custody in New Jersey for parole violations so Dekalb County thought it would suffice to FAX his felony arrest warrant to NJ. Three weeks later, we were told that the suspect had escaped just a few days after the indictment. No one in Dekalb had followed through to see if the warrant had indeed been received by NJ. As a result, Essex County, NJ released the suspect on bond, with an electronic monitoring device. Once he discovered that he had a murder ticket on his head in Georgia, he promptly cut off his bracelet and fled. No one, in two jurisdictions missed him for THREE WEEKS. He was finally recaptured in Richmond, VA on April 29 and extradited by to Georgia on May 2. We are now awaiting his arraignment which may happen "sometime in September".
My children and I created our own "closure" 10 years ago by not putting a question mark where the Lord has placed a period. But "justice" has been a horse of a different color. One cannot get on with their lives until the justice process is completed - one way or another. Even if the killer is not convicted, it will be over for us. As it stands now, we are living like we have a large open scab that the legal system keeps throwing salt in by not doing the job for which it has been paid.
I am a strong person but this is about to break me. Being continually victimized by "the system" is worse than what happened on June 25, 1997.
You can read more about this journey on my personal website "The Loose Book" at www.theloosebook.com view link
Now that you know about me, please share your stories. If there is anything that I can do to help you keep your case from going cold, please holla out. That has been virtually what my whole life has been about this past decade. If you just want to talk or vent, do that also.
My children and I created our own "closure" 10 years ago by not putting a question mark where the Lord has placed a period. But "justice" has been a horse of a different color. One cannot get on with their lives until the justice process is completed - one way or another. Even if the killer is not convicted, it will be over for us. As it stands now, we are living like we have a large open scab that the legal system keeps throwing salt in by not doing the job for which it has been paid.
I am a strong person but this is about to break me. Being continually victimized by "the system" is worse than what happened on June 25, 1997.
You can read more about this journey on my personal website "The Loose Book" at www.theloosebook.com view link
Now that you know about me, please share your stories. If there is anything that I can do to help you keep your case from going cold, please holla out. That has been virtually what my whole life has been about this past decade. If you just want to talk or vent, do that also.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
I'd like to extend a personal welcome to all of our new members. Please share any stories that you have. And, if you are having problems with the judicial system, holla out. I will tell you some of the things that I did to keep my husband's case from going cold and finally getting an indictment and arrest.
