HOUSTON — Parents of a Central Texas teen shot and killed in downtown Houston last month pleaded for help finding her killer in what's being called a "cold-blooded, callous murder."
The gunman shot Louise Wilson, 17, in the heart in the road rage shooting on the Pierce Elevated portion of I-45 around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10.
"Despite being mortally wounded, she managed to get her car off the road and her actions, no doubt, prevented other tragedies," Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers said in a news conference Thursday.
A male passenger was also shot but he survived.
Louise and her two friends were headed to Galveston from Whitney, Texas, northwest of Waco, to watch the sunrise.
Her family and Houston police are hoping a $20,000 Crime Stoppers reward will lead to her killer.
"It's time for us as a community to send a message to those who commit these types of senseless crimes, destroying families one at a time," Kahan said. "We're going to find you, we're going to hunt you down and we're going to lock you up."
Homicide detectives said he was in a newer model, black four-door sedan. Houston police also released a more detailed description of the driver at the news conference.
- Light-skinned Black male
- Mid-20s
- Short, hairstyle with dreadlocks partially dyed blonde.
Louise's family said she loved animals and helping people so she wanted to be a K9 officer.
"You stole her life, you stole her future, you stole from our family, you do not value life,” mother Krista Wilson said. "When you chose to spray my daughter with bullets, that's when you lost your right to live freely amongst society, Lord willing you will be found.”
Krista said she doesn't know how she's supposed to live without her daughter.
"No words can really describe the magnitude of loss and pain I'm experiencing," Krista Wilson said. "It's been difficult to believe that was my daughter lying in that casket, that it was my daughter put in the ground and that I will never touch her or hear her voice all the rest of the days of my life."
The victim's father, Daniel, had a message for the killer.
"To my daughter's killer, I want to say you are a coward," Daniel Wilson said at the news conference. He said the large reward should haunt the suspect who must now wonder if and when someone will turn him in.
"You'll have to live with that doubt for the rest of your life, having to wonder who might turn you in, your mom, dad, brother, sister or friends," Daniel said. "To those you bragged about what you did to our little girl, how much is your life worth to them is something you'll have to ask yourself for the rest of your life."
Daniel said even if the killer is never caught, he'll "have to face another judgment -- one that is eternal."
"I do pray that you find salvation cause I know you don't have it right now. It's easy to repent and ask for forgiveness," Daniel said. "Maybe one day, we can meet face to face as brothers in Christ."
Daniel thanked Houston law enforcement and pleaded with them, and the rest of Houston, not to forget his daughter.
"Please help get this animal off your streets," he said. "Imagine seeing news segments with your child covered with a sheet, laying on the roadway. Imagine your daughter on the side of the freeway taking her last breaths. Those are the images that play through my mind every night as I try to sleep, an image that I see every time I close my eyes or visit her grave."
Finally, the heartbroken father had a message for Louise.
"Lastly, to my daughter, I know you're in heaven, surrounded by family and in the glory of the Lord. You know and have known you were loved here on earth. We will see you again and I can't wait to see you again."
Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted online or in over 20 languages on the Crime Stoppers app. All tipsters can remain anonymous.