JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It took 16 years of waiting and fighting, but now a Jacksonville woman has the peace of mind she needed after, police said, the man who killed her mother is charged with her murder.
Ella Holland (pictured below) was found strangled in a wooded area behind a downtown church in 1998. Police said DNA evidence linked 55-year-old Phillip Bennett to Holland's killing. According to prison records, Bennett was already serving time for an unrelated charge.
Vantrica Holland said the last 16 years have been very hard. She was just 15 when her mother was killed, and she said that about three years ago, she really pushed detectives and called them on a regular basis, following up every day.
She said life without her mother has been unbelievable.
"It just hurts me when I look at my daughter and my daughter looks just like her. And it just hurts," Vantrica Holland said.
July 7, 2005, was a happy day for Vantrica Holland. That was the day she gave birth to her now 9-year-old daughter, Kyari Holland. But still, that day served as a sad reminder. It was seven years before that police found her mother's body.
"She talks about her a lot," Vantrica Holland said of her daughter. "She be like, when she sees a lot of kids with their grandparents and stuff, she'll say, 'Mama, I wish my grandmother was here.' It hurts."
Vantrica Holland said her life spun out of control after her mother's killing. Then, through the support of her husband and family, she pushed for new answers in the case. In 2011, she lobbied Jacksonville police to take a new look.
Holland said she called regularly and went to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to speak one-on-one with detectives. She was determined, and her mother's case was not going to be forgotten.
Police said that second look led them to Bennett. Last week, Bennett went before a judge, and Vantrica Holland met him face-to-face.
"He didn't even look at me. He didn't even look," Vantrica Holland said. "He didn't look at me for nothing in the world."
"He's the type of person who shouldn't even be on the streets," said Patricia Holland, Ella Holland's sister. "Me, my point of view, I don't feel sorry for him at all. Where he is he needs to stay."
Ella Holland's loved ones remember her as a loving, giving mother who is missed every single day.
Vantrica Holland said victims' families who are waiting for answers should never "give up. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep pressing the issue."
Bennett is due back in court next month. Ella Holland's family said it'll be there every step of the way.