ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott has agreed to reopen the investigation in the death of Michelle O'Connell, whose family believes her death is consistent with homicide more so than suicide.
On Friday, Scott ordered a special prosecutor to look at the facts again in the case.
"Today, we are heartened that this won't be the end of my sister's story," said Jennifer O'Connell-Crites. "We are thankful that this incident has received worldwide media attention because she truly deserves justice. We will continue to fight for Michelle, as long as it takes."
O'Connell, 24, was found dead in her St. Augustine home in September 2010. The death was ruled a suicide, but her family and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found the death suspicious because her boyfriend, Jeremy Banks, was a St. Johns County deputy.
Last month, O'Connell's family asked State Attorney R.J. Larizza to follow the recommendation of FDLE to have a coroner's inquest, in which a medical examiner looks into the cause and manner of death, often with the help of a jury. The family gathered 250,000 signatures in a petition asking for the case to be reopened.
DOCUMENT: Executive order for special prosecutor
If the state attorney didn't oblige, the family asked the governor to appoint a special prosecutor to do so. He did Friday, appointing Jeff Ashton, best known for being the lead prosecutor in the Casey Anthony trial.
O'Connell died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her death has been ruled a suicide by three medical examiners.
Some members of her family insist she was killed by her boyfriend Banks on the night they were talking about breaking up. The gun used in her death was Banks' service weapon.
"Her family since that time has fought relentlessly to get the truth out because they never believe that she committed suicide," family attorney Benjamin Crump said. "The family is relieved after four years and 31 days of struggling to get a chance at justice, to get due process for Michelle O'Connell and her daughter, Alexis, that Gov. Scott signed an executive order."
Last month, a witness gave a sworn affidavit saying Banks went into his bar the night after O'Connell's death and said, "That B got what she deserved."
A special prosecutor had been previously appointed to the case and found insufficient evidence that Banks was involved.
O'Connell's family said the sheriff shouldn't have investigated his own, and they said Banks was given special treatment. An FDLE agent who investigated the case concluded O'Connell was likely killed. That agent, Rusty Rodgers, is now under investigation himself for improper techniques.
Sheriff David Shoar has admitted mistakes were made in the investigation, but said he's sure O'Connell's death was a suicide.
Shoar issued a statement Friday that read in part: "We are confident that the new Special Prosecutor will reach the same conclusion that one law enforcement agency, two State Attorneys, including one who was assigned as a Special Prosecutor by the Governor, and three medical examiners (reached); that the tragic death of Michelle O'Connell was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
DOCUMENT: Full statement from St. Johns County Sheriff
"We certainly hope that the O'Connell family finds peace and acceptance in the findings of this new Special Prosecutor, something we have never been able to provide."
Private investigator Clu Wright believes investigators missed -- or ignored -- key points of evidence in O'Connell's death investigation. He was not hired to look into the case but spent several months scouring public records after authorities closed the case.
"I tried to remain objective, and straight down the line with the facts," Wright said. "There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. There's some things that I think need to be answered by Jeremy Banks, in terms of how certain things got there. If they don't answer them, then the facts now look more like a homicide than a suicide."
Wright said there are inconsistencies in the reports on items like a medical glove on the car and a box of medical gloves in Banks' cruiser, blood on the gun Wright sees in crime scene photos that did not get mentioned, and a bloody shirt above O'Connell's head on the bed.
All of that, he hopes, will be fairly considered in a new look at the evidence.
"I think that's a good thing to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the case," Wright said. "Hopefully he'll take that evidence and put it before a grand jury -- independent grand jury -- and let them decide the outcome on the evidence (and) where that leads them."