Watch and share: Never-before-seen video shows Katy woman's alleged killer
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Amanda Fleetwood had big plans.
The 20-year-old wanted to teach English in Japan. She was days away from starting a new waitress job to save money for her trip. Life was exciting.
But on July 10, 2004, those plans ended when she and friend Jonnie Tromp stopped at "Bizarre Times" on Richmond Avenue to buy cigarettes.
"All the activity occurred not too far from the front door," said Detective Darcus Shorten, pointing to the spot where Donnie had parked his gray 1990 Nissan Sentra. It was feet from the smoke shop's front door.
Surveillance video from that day shows Amanda and Jonnie inside at the counter, speaking with the clerk. A man in a black t-shirt, wearing a black hat, with a light-colored sweatshirt wrapped around his waist, lurks behind the couple.
"It was kind of spooky how he was doing it. He hung by the register area. But it all looked like normal," Shorten said.
Police say the man asked Amanda and Jonnie for a ride. The friends repeatedly said no. In the video, the man follows them outside and persists. Jonnie gave in.
"He gets in the car and that's when disaster happens," Shorten said.
Amanda sat in the front passenger seat. Jonnie climbed into the driver's seat. The stranger sat in the middle back seat. Jonnie drove the three of them about a mile down the road to Tanglewild South II Townhome complex. The man told Jonnie to pull into a driveway and drop him off. At that point, police say he shot Jonnie, then Amanda, both in the back of the head.
Investigators say the shooter got out of the car, stood over Jonnie, and rifled through his pockets. Jonnie came to and started to drive away. Police say the suspect shot Jonnie two more times in the head before he got away.
Jonnie managed to drive two to three miles to a construction site along West Sam Houston Parkway near Bellaire Boulevard where several off-duty police officers were working a second job. The officers called an ambulance.
"Right place, right time," Shorten said.
Both Jonnie and Amanda were rushed to the hospital and were put into medically induced comas. Amazingly, Jonnie lived. Amanda died five days later.
For more than 13 years, Amanda's parents have played detective, looking at similar cases and collecting clues.
"We can't just fall apart. There's a fight in us to find out what happened to Amanda, to get justice for Amanda. And Jonnie," said Anne Fleetwood, Amanda's stepmother.
"--and to stop him from doing it anymore," said Amanda's father, Dan Fleetwood, interrupting Anne. "Who knows how many times he's done that."
The Fleetwoods had never seen the full surveillance video but are encouraged that ABC13 is releasing it.
"Maybe there's something that he does that other people are like: I know that guy," Anne said.
"Really look at that video, look at his mannerisms, look at what he had on," Shorten said.
The Fleetwoods are hopeful this is the key to figuring out who killed their daughter. They're asking you to do one thing:
"Share it, share it, share it," Anne Fleetwood said. "This guy could be states away, could be in another country, but the more people who share it, the more chance we get to solve this crime."
There were few leads in this case. The suspect's DNA was lifted from a juice box he left in Jonnie's car. Unfortunately, it was inconclusive.
"This was a vicious act of a crime. This was not his first crime," Shorten said. "We're very excited about putting this (surveillance video) out there and trying to regenerate a conversation on it."
Click here to see more on how Amanda Fleetwood's family has been working to bring her justice
