GASTONIA, N.C. — A pizza delivery driver was robbed and murdered in Gaston County 33 years ago, but now his convicted killer is set to get out of prison.
Jimmy Floyd was sentenced to life in prison and almost got the death penalty for killing Keith Hilderbrand in 1991 in Gastonia. Hilderbrand’s daughter thought Floyd would never get out of prison.
“He was everything, he taught me everything,” Lori Stamey told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon.
[ ALSO READ >> Woman says she tried to get daughter away from man accused of killing her ]
Stamey held her phone with a picture of her father, a former airman.
“[I] wish dad was still here,” Stamey said.
Stamey was stunned when she got a letter saying Floyd, the man who laughed when he was arrested for her father’s murder, was getting out of a life sentence and leaving prison.
“It wasn’t fair, he has no right to be on this side of the bars,” she said.
She was 14 years old in 1991. Her father was helping her with an art project, but he had to cut their work short to go to work delivering pizzas.
“He said we’ll work on it tomorrow. I said I love you and behave yourself, and when I got out of the truck, I watched him drive down the road,” Stamey said. “And that was it. I never saw him again.”
[ SEE MORE: Man accused of killing Florida corrections officer arrested in Gaston County ]
Investigators say Floyd already planned to kill the pizza delivery driver. He then stole Hilderbrand’s truck.
“It’s having a part of your soul ripped away unexpectedly,” Stamey said.
She understands that new sentencing standards allow a felon sentenced to life in prison to seek parole after 25 years. But she wonders if the parole board knew Floyd came within two votes of getting the death penalty, or how he bragged when he headed to prison.
“You’ll see me in about 15,” Floyd told reporters after being convicted.
Floyd, who is now 55 years old, served nearly double that amount of time. He’s tentatively scheduled to be released in 2027.
“I forgive him, but I’ll never forget him,” Stamey said.
Stamey told Ken Lemon that she wished she could have stopped her father from going to work that night, but then someone else would have been killed.
She said the parole board told her they would notify her before Floyd is released.
(VIDEO: Gastonia police search for driver who caused another car to slam into home)
This browser does not support the video element.