TULSA, Okla. — Catherine Ashford taught for Tulsa Public Schools and was a nurturing presence for many children, including her own 10-year-old daughter.
In May of 1995, Ashford didn't pick up her daughter from school. Concerned, a friend brought the little girl home, only to be met with an unimaginable nightmare.
WATCH: Oklahoma's Cold Case Files: Catherine Ashford:
"I can't imagine anything more traumatic than coming home and finding your mother murdered and going all of these years without having any kind of answers,” said Tulsa Police Homicide Lt. Brandon Watkins.
It was a time filled with turmoil for Ashford.
She was in the midst of a nasty divorce, one that led her to take important steps to protect herself, including getting a protective order against her ex-husband. Despite those precautions, police said the unthinkable happened.
"He remains probably the primary suspect in this. She had filed some stalking reports and a lot of concerning behavior around that, and unfortunately, he fled the state, and he remains the primary person of interest in this,” said Watkins.
Detectives dedicated countless hours to unraveling the mystery surrounding Ashford's death. They hold a firm belief about who could be responsible, yet the evidence has yet to lead to an arrest.
"This particular case has a lot of paperwork, and there are several binders back there and most of the detectives did quite a bit of work on it, it's just you know a bad thing when you believe you know who the suspect is but the evidence just isn't there to warrant the arrest yet,” said Watkins.
Robyn Crawford, a neighbor, shared in the grief still lingering. She said her heart aches for the little girl forced to confront such horror at a young age.
"She's had to relive that since 1995, and then being that young and coming in and just seeing that your mom is no longer with you, and that's pretty much all she had, especially since other neighbors brought her home or someone from the school brought her home, said Crawford. It's heartbreaking to know that something like that would have happened to anyone, no less a mother."
The Ashford family and the Tulsa community continue to hold onto hope for justice. Any information about this case can be sent to Tulsa police by calling 918-596-COPS.
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