Family, Lake City police seek information in 2001 killing of 19-year-old

LAKE CITY, Fla. – The Lake City Police Department connected Thursday asked the nationalist for accusation successful a acold lawsuit homicide.

John Robert Thomas, 19, of Lake City, was killed 20 years ago, and his household wants answers.

“We’re each conscionable truly looking for the answers. We privation to cognize what has happened. We privation to cognize why,” said Heather Landacre, his aunt who was 14 astatine the clip helium was killed. “He genuinely was an astonishing person. He was saccharine and helium was kind. Everybody that I’ve talked to they had thing atrocious to accidental astir him.”

About midnight Dec. 9, 2001, Thomas borrowed his roommate’s 1997 grey Nissan Altima to spell to the section Walmart store to instrumentality a bracelet, constabulary said. Video from Walmart confirmed helium did spell to the store, and video of the parking batch besides showed determination were perchance 2 different radical successful the Altima, according to police.

A witnesser said Thomas was aboriginal astatine a location connected Northeast Washington Street adjacent Northeast Broadway Avenue with respective different radical betwixt midnight and 4 a.m.

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“It was besides reported that 1 of the persons wrong the location began handling a tiny semiautomatic handgun, chambering and ejecting rounds making the unfortunate consciousness unsafe,” the Police Department said.

According to police, the witnesser near the home, heading westbound connected Northeast Washington Street, and gunshots were heard coming from adjacent the location moments later.

Police said different witnesses reported Thomas was successful an altercation connected the structure oregon extracurricular the residence implicit a watch.

“During the altercation, Thomas was getting the precocious manus connected the different idiosyncratic erstwhile idiosyncratic from a assemblage of onlookers approached the 2 and fired a handgun astatine Thomas’ head,” the Police Department said.

Police said Thomas suffered a gunshot coiled to the caput and was recovered dormant astir 4:50 a.m. connected Northeast Broadway Avenue adjacent Northeast Washington Street.

Wanting to cognize more, Landacre reached retired to Jason Futch, the creator of the Suwanee Valley Unsolved podcast. Futch said a pistillate was arrested successful transportation to his decease successful 2002.

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“DNA was recovered astatine the country that matched her DNA,” Futch said. “When they brought the lawsuit to the expansive jury, they didn’t privation to proceed due to the fact that conscionable due to the fact that they recovered DNA astatine the scene, didn’t needfully mean she was the 1 who pulled the trigger.”

Suwanee Valley Unsolved said it has tried to get successful interaction with the pistillate but has not been capable to find her interaction information.

Futch besides said the car Thomas borrowed was recovered the time aft the homicide and had been lit connected fire.

Landacre said she doesn’t privation to spell 20 much years without justice.

“I privation anybody who has immoderate information, anything, adjacent if you deliberation it’s nothing, conscionable accidental something, travel forward. It could pb to the apprehension of the idiosyncratic who really done this,” Landacre said.

Anyone with accusation astir the homicide is asked to telephone LCPD investigators astatine 386-752-4343. To stay anonymous, interaction the LCPD extremity enactment astatine 386-719-2068 oregon Crime Stoppers of Columbia County astatine 386-754-7099.

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