Jacksonville family still seeking answers in daughters murder 20 years later

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Memorial Day weekend is a time to celebrate and enjoy, but for one local family it’s another year of heartache.

May 28 marks 20 years since the murder of local mother Mary Petersen, 20 years with nobody held responsible for her death.

“We wake up every morning and when we wake up the first thing we think about is May 28, the day Mary was murdered,” her mother Frances Futrill said.

Police say she was strangled to death in her own home, her two kids were in the house when it happened. The 36-year-old was going through a divorce at the time with her husband and had been spending some time at her parents house.

In 2002, her mother Frances Futrill said Mary had to stop home in Fort Caroline for clothes.

“My plan was to go over there that night, but I didn’t go and that’s my biggest regret of my whole life,” she said.

Petersen’s car was found within a mile of her house and there were no signs of forced entry into the house. Futrill is begging for anybody with information to come forward.

“If she could hear me she knows we love her with every beat of her heart and every breath we take, we miss her every day,” Futrill said. “20 years seems like yesterday and yesterday seems like 20 years. Where do you go from here? Still hoping and praying for justice for her.”

On Saturday Action News Jax reached out to JSO for any developments in the case but haven’t heard back by the time our story aired. We will update this story when we get a response. If you know anything, you’re urged to call police.

FROM 2021: Case goes cold for 19 years, Mary Petersen was killed in Jacksonville in 2002

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