CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A group of supporters gathered at Charlotte's Freedom Park on Saturday to remember Kim Thomas. She was killed in her home 23 years ago. Her son Elliot was just 9-months-old then and in his crib at the time of the crime.
He's now a 24-year-old man.
“I don't remember but it's nice to know a lot of people still remember her,” Elliot Thomas said.
Kim Thomas was found in her home on Wendover Road, handcuffed with her throat slashed. Police arrested her husband, Ed Friedland.
Prosecutors later dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.
Friedland's attorney had insisted Kim Thomas' killer was a man named Marion Gales, a handyman who lived nearby and had done odd jobs in the neighborhood.
Police never charged Gales. He's in prison for another murder and not talking about the Thomas case.
“It's been 23 years, a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money. I understand that, but it's not resolved and the purpose of the legal system is to resolve cases,” Elliot Thomas said.
A lot has changed in the last 20-plus years. The house in the woods where police found Thomas' body is gone, replaced by a new, upscale development and the case has long been considered cold, but the victim's sister says she still has a burning desire for answers.
“I'm committed. I’m passionate about it. I’m tenacious,” sister Lynn Thomas said. “And let it begin with me.”