PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- While the New Year means a fresh start for many, one Brazoria County family finds it difficult to move on, knowing a killer is still on the loose. Investigators are turning to hypnotism in hopes of finding a new lead in this unsolved murder.
It all started with a drive-by shooting in February of last year on County Road 94 near Blueridge. It's been almost a year since 22-year-old Willie Wallace was murdered in cold blood. Investigators say he was gunned down in his own car during a drive by shooting on a quiet suburban street right outside Pearland city limits.
"It's just very odd," said Ruben Aguilar with the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities are baffled because they have no motive and Wallace, they say, had no enemies.
Aguilar said, "Everyone that I've talked to so far has mentioned nothing but good about him, good person, never did anything out of the ordinary."
There was such a shortage of evidence, Investigator Aguilar says Wallace's friend agreed to let a Texas Ranger hypnotize him in hopes he might remember something. It revealed nothing. Aguilar says it's not an uncommon technique.
"When something traumatic happens to them, people tend to put it to the back of their mind where they really don't want to think about it anymore," he explained.
Wallace was murdered on February 28, 2009, right around the same time Brazoria County detectives were investigating a rash of home invasions not far from the scene of the shooting. It was also the same month Susana DeJesus was kidnapped from a nearby Brazoria County strip mall. Her body was found a month later. Nicholas Michael Jean has since been charged with capital murder in that case.
It's unclear whether Wallace's murder is connected to any of the other cases, including the DeJesus murder. Sheriff's investigators recovered shell casings and bullets from the shooting, but no matching gun. They're asking anyone with any information to call Brazoria County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-460-2222.
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