– Imagine 21 years going by and there being no justice for your murdered loved one. Sunday will mark that heartbreaking reality for the family of Mary Petersen,35, whose body was found by her two young children at their home on Oak Landings Drive.
Fast forward two decades later, Futrill said she never imagined we’d still be here asking the same questions. “While she was going through her divorce, Mary Petersen had moved back in with her parents,” she said. “But on the day she was murdered, she returned to the home just off Fort Caroline Road to get some clothes and had planned to go back to her mom’s. Tragically, she changed her mind, called her mother, and said she’d decided to stay. It was the last time the two would ever speak.”
While some days are harder than others, Futrill has pictures of her beloved daughter, a Care Bear from the Justice Coalition made from Mary’s clothing and memories she’ll forever cherish.“I’ll never giving up looking for it, hoping for it, wishing for it. Every day of my life,” she said. “21 years I’ve wished and hoped and prayed and looked for it. But I’m not going to give up.”