By CJ Cassidy - bio | email
SCOTT COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - Scott County investigators have spent more than $100,000 on the Mischelle Lawless case, and Sheriff Rick Walter says the tab continues to grow. Now he's counting on the Lawless family to keep the investigation going strong. So, the family is planning a bake sale and car wash for this weekend.
They say they're ready to take on any challenge if it will help bring Mischelle Lawless' killer to justice.
"I always said if I could get one kiss one more time. It's hard I can't hardly talk. It always breaks me down," Ann Duty sobbed quietly.
She prefers baking any day, especially when she hopes it helps roll in the dough to give investigators enough money to track down her granddaughter's killer.
But then she relaxes, and the memories come rushing back.
"She liked everything I baked. She had no favorites. Cookies, cakes everything."
I ask her if she will think about Mischelle when she heads the bake sale this weekend. "Oh yes. That's what I am doing it for. I would give everything I've got if I just know who done it and why they done it. All I wanna ask them is why did you do it?"
Sheriff Walter wants to ask the killer that same question.
In February this year, a judge released a man wrongfully convicted in the Lawless case, declaring him innocent.
"We're going to find out who done this," Walter said.
He says photographs from the crime scene remind him of the horror he felt all those years ago as a young reserve deputy.
He also says the pictures encourage him to keep hunting for the 19-year-old's killer despite already racking up more than a $100,000 on the search for the truth.
"I've been across the country to California, interviewed people over this," Walter said. "We've been all over. This is very expensive. Now we are looking at testing DNA and to date we owe the lab almost $40,000."
Mischelle's family says they appreciate all of the sheriff's efforts.
They just hope they can rest easy some day, knowing their loved one is at peace.
"I sure feel sorry for the boy that had to go to prison. We almost knew he wasn't the right one because we said we'd always put wreaths at the intersection until they got the right one. For 17 years ever since she was killed her daddy put the wreaths up I put the ribbon bows up, to let her know we haven't forgotten."
If you would like to go by the bake sale and car wash, it takes place Saturday, August 8 at 10 a.m. outside the Benton City Hall.
You can also send in donations to the Sheriff's department earmarked for the Mischelle Lawless case.
As far as the case goes, the Sheriff says so far he has about six to eight persons of interest but no specific suspect.
The address is Scott County Sheriff's Department
P.O. Box 279
131 S. New Madrid Street
Benton, MO 63736
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Mischelle Lawless
Ann Duty bakes cookies for the fundraiser.
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