JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was a gruesome and heartless killing. Next week marks one year since a 53-year-old man was tortured and killed in a Northside home.
Police say Manooch Karimi was killed on Longreene Road on March 8.
To this day, the crime remains unsolved.
For the first time, this man's widow is speaking out, begging for help in solving her husband's killing.
She said Karimi had no enemies. He owned his own business where he built railings and was known for his skill and honesty. But what he cared about most was his family.
"I met him when I was 15, and that was it," Linda Karimi said. "My heart belonged to him from then on. It was just like -- he used to say that God brought us together for a reason."
The love story began when they met at, of all places, a red light. Linda and Manooch had been together ever since. They had three children and were to live happily ever after.
"We just spoke mostly about growing old together," Linda said.
But a year ago, Linda's world turned upside down.
"I got a knock on the door with the worst news of our life, you know -- that he had been shot, that he had been shot several times and they tortured him," Linda said. "They were hitting him with a crowbar and they broke his arms. I mean it was a horrible death, what my husband suffered."
Linda said her husband was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was house sitting for a relative. The motive is unknown, though it doesn't appear to be robbery. Whoever killed Karimi left his wallet, keys and truck. The killers have not been caught.
"It's an active investigation still. We're currently still working it," said Lt. Rob Schoonover, head of the homicide unit for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Schoonover said detectives want to solve the case but don't have a lot to go on. He said tips have run dry.
"I can tell you that we need help. We need help from the community or anyone that knows anything about this," Schoonover said.
Channel 4 crime analyst Ken Jefferson said in a case like this, time is of the essence.
"The longer the time span, the harder it becomes to solve it because your leads go stale, people stop calling in," he said.
Karimi's family wants justice. They want to know who took the man's life and ruined theirs. And they don't want something as terrible as this to happen ever again.
"I'm very frustrated because I feel like they just got away with murdering my husband, and I know these things do take time, but they also -- it's like the longer it takes, the harder it is. I do know that, too," Linda said.
Karimi's family is organizing a march and neighborhood canvass next week that they hope will bring them closer to an arrest and closure. Until then, they ask anyone with information about what happened to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.