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Mother of victim in unsolved homicide speaks out after FMPD audit

Posted at 6:59 PM, Feb 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-01 07:30:19-05

It's a recurring nightmare for Camelia Sehley going on for eleven years.

"You relive the scene all over again," she said. "I relive everything. I know everything from start to end. How it was, where we were."

On April 28, 2006 is when her 18-year old son Angelo Gary and nephew Marcus Battle were killed outside their grandmother's Michigan Link's apartment. Two arrests were made back in 2007 but no one has been convicted for either death. Gary's death is one of many unsolved homicides.

According to Fort Myers Police there have been 48 unsolved homicide cases in the last 5 years.

An investigative audit of the department conducted by an independent company hired by the City of Fort Myers agrees. Past and present employees were interviewed. Two hundred interviews were conducted, some officers were interviewed more than once.

Auditors found there aren't enough experienced investigators to work on homicide cases. Sehley says part of the problem from her point of view is a lack of trust.

"You don't know who is for you," Sehley said. "You don't know who to trust."

She says trust is what will help solve these cases.

"No one will come forward because they're afraid. They don't feel they'll be protected by our police department," she said.

Officers also found "reports of officers leaking information to drug dealers regarding search warrants were never properly addressed by the Department. Officers who were not trusted by other officers, witnesses, or outside agencies were nevertheless promoted and allowed to serve in positions wherein they had the ability to compromise sensitive investigations."

Sehley is anxious to know if one of those officers could have compromised her son's case. 

"When I heard about that in the report I didn't even know how to take that," she said. "I'm like was my son part of that? My cousin part of that?"

Sehley has recently joined a community group to help her cope with death of her son. She says she's hopeful to see justice for Angelo and other's who have yet to see it.

"Even if not for me but for another mom who lost her kid."