Police are still hoping to find justice for a 15-year-old girl who was murdered in 1994 by offering a $50,000 reward for new information about the case.
Laralee Spear was “abducted, shot and killed” after getting off her school bus 27 years ago, a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office statement read. At the time, Spear’s body was found near a burned-down house about a quarter-mile away from her family’s home in DeLand, Florida.
The sheriff’s office statement included the investigators’ theory on the final moments of Spear’s life. “It’s believed her killer took her shortly after she got off the bus around 3:15 p.m.,” according to the statement.
“Expecting her home as usual,” the statement continued, “Laralee’s worried mother called 911 to report her missing around 4:05 p.m. Deputies were on scene in minutes, and an Air One pilot spotted her body near the abandoned structure around 5:35 p.m.”
Authorities announced the $50,000 reward for new information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer on April 25, the 27 anniversary of Spear’s death.
In a video released by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, Spear’s younger sister Ginny Bussell said, “It still hurts. Every day. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her.”
“I always wonder what she would think of Christmas, or Thanksgiving, her birthday. I always wonder where she will be at if things were different if somebody had just left her alone that day and let her live,” Bussell went on to say in the video. (RELATED: police Able To Match Fingerprint On Plastic Bag Used To Suffocate Man In 30-Year Murder Case)
“What life would be like with her here – I’m sure it would have been a lot happier,” she added.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood also appeared in the video and said, “I think for generations of deputies in the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office – everybody wants to see this case closed.”
Chitwood said that the sheriff’s major case unit recently met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to discuss how new technology and techniques could help crack the cold case, according to the statement.
“If you know something, please just come forward, just tell something even if you think it’s the most useless piece of information, just speak up,” Bussell said in the video. “One little thing can make a world of difference, can bring peace to Laralee, can bring us hope and closure.”