JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Detectives at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office are resubmitting evidence in a 30-year-old cold case murder in hopes that new technology will help them find the killer.
On May 8, 1991, Sherry Ross, 24, was stabbed to death in her home on Thomas Street in the Lackawanna area while her daughter, who was 6 years old at the time, hid in her room.
About 3 p.m. that day, Ross picked up her daughter from school. Soon after that, the girl was in her room when she heard a scream.
“And then she hears a man’s voice, a male voice demanding money, saying, ‘Give me all your money. Give me your gold,’” said Detective Ray Reeves, who is with JSO’s cold case homicide unit.
Ross’ daughter saw a man’s feet as she hid under her bed. According to Reeves, as the commotion continued, the daughter moved into her own closet and hid there.
The attacker asked Ross if anyone else was home, but she said no.
“Everything centered in her world around this young girl, and so even in that as her life was potentially at risk and then ended, she knew to protect her little girl,” Reeves said.
It’s not clear if the killer knew Ross or was a stranger. According to JSO, a witness identified a man near the house around the time of the killing.
Now, detectives are hoping new technology will help provide clues about who came in the house that day.
“We’re in the process now of resubmitting items, fingerprints, DNA evidence, blood, those kinds of things to see if we can get that up to today’s standards because technology has advanced so much,” Reeves said.
Reeves said they could get results in a few weeks.
“We’re hoping that some of this will give us some type of movement or traction, whether it’s a specific hit, or even in a case recently, we’ve had some genetic genealogy,” Reeves said.
Right now, investigators are checking with scientists to see if this case would be a good candidate for that type of testing.
Reeves is also asking anyone who knows anything related to the case — no matter how small — to call JSO at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).