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Mourning Nilexia Alexander one year after her death
Evan Axelbank reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Ashley Alexander is living in a new, bigger apartment in Seffner, miles from where she lived in Temple Terrace at a time when Nilexia was still alive.
"I was hearing her voice in the other apartment," she said. "I could be in the store, walking, and see somebody that sounds like her, and I go look for her – knowing that she is not here."
Nilexia's ashes though, remain in an urn in a living room display case, a year after the teen was seen getting into a car at 3 a.m. on May 6 in East Tampa.
Authorities said Ronny Walker drove her to a vacant lot off Florabraska Avenue and shot her. He is charged with capital murder. What remains a mystery is how the teenager ended up in a car with a 44-year-old man at 3 a.m. Police said Nilexia had run away from home many times.
MORE: ‘Clearly a danger to society’: Accused teen killer to remain in jail without bond
"It still feels fresh to me," Ashley said. "I still have a memory of seeing it on the news, of going out to the morgue. I still have that chill feeling. It was so cold. Hearing the doors click. I still hear it."
Walker had once been ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for a different crime, but that conviction was overturned, and a plea deal allowed him to get out of jail after only five years.
The case occurred in 2003. A woman named Veronica Denson was home with her grandmother, Elaine Caldwell, when Walker broke in, demanded money from Elaine's boyfriend, and killed her in front of them. Detectives were turned onto Walker by the boyfriend, who said he heard via rumor that the perp was Walker.
It took two jury trials for him to be found guilty of manslaughter and armed robbery. He got life in prison, but his attorneys won an appeal with a judge citing an inappropriate use of hearsay evidence.
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Man accused of murdering 14-year-old was convicted in 2003 killing
Walker had once been ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for a different crime, but that conviction was overturned, and a plea deal allowed him to get out of jail after only five years.
Robert Creed, a second suspect arrested in the case, is alleged to have been in the car that early morning. He is facing an accessory after the fact charge.
It has been a year since the deadly shooting and no trial date has been set.
"I know I probably will never get the answers," Ashley said. "But I just want to know, ‘How did you meet? What were you thinking to pull that trigger that night? Did she say? What did she do?’ Regardless of what she said or what she did, to me, she was a baby."
She is planning a balloon launch at Ballast Point Park on Saturday, one of Nilexia's favorite places.
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One-on-one with Nilexia Alexander's mother
When the body of an unidentified teen girl was found in early May, all the Tampa Police Department had to go on was a distinctive tattoo.
MORE: Foster care to finding her roots: Nilexia Alexander's mom describes 14-year-old's life before murder
Her next motherly duty is to see the trial all the way through.
"I am going to make it my business to be there," she said. "I want to see justice. I want to see this man's face. I want him to see my face. I want to see the anger, the hurt he caused me and my family. I want him to see me."
Robert Creed is due in court on May 15. Prosecutors previously stated they will seek the death penalty.
Ronny Walker is due in court on June 8.
Nilexia would have turned 15 in January.