Local mom to spend Mother's Day praying her daughter's killer from 17 years ago is found

Seventeen years ago, Mary Petersen, a mother of two, was killed in her Jacksonville home, and her killer has yet to be brought to justice.

Her 8-year-old son found her dead when he went to wake her to ask for breakfast in May of 2002. Police say she had been strangled to death.

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Her son and his sister ran to the home next door, begging for help.

There were no signs of forced entry to their home, and Petersen’s car was found abandoned a mile from her home.

In the years since, her parents, Bill and Fran Futrill prayed for her killer to be caught.

In the days before her murder, Patersen and her children celebrated her 5-year-old’s birthday.

Petersen worked at Brooks Rehab Center for more than 15 years and was just promoted.

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The 35-year-old was going through a divorce at the time and beginning a new chapter of her life.

Fran Futrill was helping her daughter through that tough time and remembers their last conversation.

"'I’ll see you all tomorrow at the ballpark,' and I told her I loved her, and she said, 'I love you mom,'”  Fran Furtrill said.

Futrill says when she learned of her daughter's death at the scene at the home, she fainted.

“There was police everywhere. I asked a fireman, I said, ‘Sir is my little girl gone?’ and he said, ‘I’m afraid she is,’" she recalled.

Fran Futrill thinks about her daughter every day and she said knows whoever did this is walking free.

“The rest of their life, they’re looking over their shoulder. I’m sure that has to be in their mind, everyday. How can you escape what you did?” Futrill said. “It’s like living in a nightmare every day, you expect an answer, you hope for an answer, and the phone will ring; 'OK Ms. Futrill, we got 'em.'"

Cox Media Group