Cali Bolden's mother is finally feeling some relief after two suspects were arrested nearly a year after her daughter was gunned down outside a party in Portland, Oregon.
On Sunday, October 15, 2023, Melissa Greely received a call every mother dreads; her 26-year-old daughter had been fatally shot.
"It feels like it was just yesterday... it's still raw," she said in an interview with KGW.
"It was about 4:17 in the morning. I got a call from a family friend that was out at the same party. He was screaming and crying and told me that Cali had been shot and he was holding her, and he kept telling me, 'I think she's dead. I think she's dead.'"
When Portland police responded to reports of a shooting that night, they found three people had been shot outside a party in Southeast Portland.
Bolden, one of the three, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were taken to a local hospital with life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to KGW.
Bolden, the youngest of five siblings, also left behind three children of her own.
Greely told the news outlet she and her family pushed detectives to keep the investigation alive.
11 months later, she received a call from law enforcement with good news: two suspects had been taken into custody for the shootings.
"They had arrested two people," she said. "I was relieved."
On Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, detectives with the Portland Police Bureau, with assistance from US Marshals and members of the Criminal Investigations Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, arrested William A. Watson, 32, and Candice M. Hicks, 34.
Watson is charged with second-degree murder, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm.
Hicks is charged with second-degree attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
Greely said neither suspect is familiar to her but promised she'll be in that courtroom every day fighting for justice.
"They did take somebody special from us," declared the grieving mother.
"I will be in the courtroom for every court hearing and every parole hearing. I will be there until I die."
