CROWLEY, Texas — It's been 25 years, but ask Ida Blakely about the day she first walked into her daughter's hospital room, and each word is a struggle.
"I almost passed out when I saw her," Blakely said, choking back tears.
Before the attack, Christina Blakely was was juggling college, motherhood and a new career as a hair model.
Her life was forever changed at a Fort Worth shopping center when she was assaulted by five or six people.
Christina's long blonde hair, her family was told, may have been jerked back by her attackers, snapping her spinal cord.
Her would-be killers got away.
"I never thought much any more about who did it, or why they did it, or anything — because I had my hands full making sure she had everything she needed or wanted," Ida Blakely said.
As a toddler, Christina's son, Ryan, helped her re-learn to eat by feeding his mother. With therapy, she learned to move her arms slightly.
"My mom was still determined to brush her teeth, wash her face," Ryan said.
But over time, Christina's spirit no longer matched her health. Pneumonia, bedsores, and related health problems increasingly kept her in her room, which became her world.
Last week, Chrissie went to the hospital for the last time. She died Tuesday, following complications from surgery.
Ryan let himself realize the full injustice of his mother's life in her final difficult months.
"It just hurt me," he said. "I was thinking about the people who did this to her; it finally hit me, I guess. It just really made me angry after so many years."
The case of Christina Blakely is now a homicide investigation. The family's final wish is that someone will contact Fort Worth police investigators and close the final chapter in this tragic story.
