Mother still seeks answer year after daughter shot, killed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A year after her daughter was shot and killed in a west Charlotte apartment, a mother is making a plea for answers.
 
"It's been really hard. I think about it every day," said Dana Drayton as she fought back tears. As she spoke, Drayton held a fistful of pictures of her daughter, Ondrea Stevenson, who was killed as she slept on the sofa in a friend's apartment on West Boulevard.
 
"I was at work and I get the phone call saying that my daughter had been murdered, which I didn't believe it," Drayton said, recalling the morning in December 2013 when Stevenson was hit by bullets that pierced the window of an apartment on West Boulevard and hit her.

Read our past coverage:

• Slain pregnant teen to be laid to rest Thursday
• Witness: Pregnant teen shot, killed while asleep on couch

Stevenson was three months pregnant at the time. Police believed from the beginning that she was not the intended target of the shooting, but a year later still don't have any suspects.
 
 "We do know that this case was not a random act of violence," said Capt. Cecil Brisbon. Brisbon declined to comment on any leads they may have had, but said they simply need someone to call them with information that will help them crack the case.
 
"We wish we had resolution, too, and we could tell you that we were resolving that today, but that's not where we are," Brisbon said.
 
With another Christmas almost here, Drayton tries to lose herself and some of the hurt in the crowds at the airport where she works but it isn't easy.
 
"It's hard to live, go home day by day, to keep a smile on your face so people don't know the pain, but it's hard," Drayton said.
 
Police are asking anyone with information about Stevenson's murder to call their Crimestoppers line at 704-334-1600.

WSOC