Murdered woman's daughter fighting stepfather's request for parole

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Faded Polaroids from decades ago are the among the few momentos Rosander Hall has of her mother, Lauretta Carr.

"My mom, she was the best. She worked, you know, we had our own everything," she said.

It was 1982. Lauretta, just 28 years old, was stabbed to death by her husband, William Marion Carr, at their family home in southeast Houston.

"I was 11 when this happened. I tried to pull him off her," she said.

Just a youngster, Hall testified against her stepfather in his murder trial.

"I relive it," Hall said. "I'm traumatized."

Carr was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. As the years passed, Hall built a life of her own. She is now a mother to four children, but the shadow remains.

"What would mom say, what would mom do? My mom died when I was 11, and there's a lot of things she didn't get to teach me," Hall said.

The holidays are hard, especially on years like this one when she knows her mother's killer is up for parole in just a few months.

She checks the progress of his case, and waits for the time when she'll have to repeat the message, she says, will never change.

"He took her life, he took my life," Hall said.