Year in Review: January-February 2012
By: Melissa Foy
Updated: December 24, 2012
Her body was found on January 19th, 12 days after she was last seen. Her neighbor, David Faniel, was later charged with her murder. Cotton County Sheriff Paul Jefferey said, "She didn't deserve this - I mean, there's no reason for her to be killed. Just thrown out like garbage and stuff. Hope we -- if we do have the right individual -- and I know we do -- that we've charged now, that he'll never be out again."
Later in the year, Daniel would take his own life while in the Cotton County Jail awaiting trial.
Around the same time of Speir's disappearance, a violent act at a Wichita Falls convenience store takes the life of the store's owner. Sixty-six-year-old Muhammad "Mo" Ahmad was fatally shot when two suspects entered Mo's Grocery on Iowa Park Road.
Those who knew Mo couldn't believe the senseless act. Robert Maney who lives near Mo's Grocery said, "The man really is a good man a guy from Bangledlesh just trying to make a good living like everybody else is around here and the way the economy is and to have this happen in front of your front yard it's just really sad."
Both suspects, 19-year-old Michael Shay Graves and 17-year-old Clifton John Russell the Fourth are each charged with capital murder. They're in the Wichita County Jail awaiting trial.
About a week later on January 17th, Wichita Falls city councilors voted to settle the wrongful death lawsuit filed by families of two girls and an unborn baby killed in a car crash involving a Wichita Falls police officer. The crash happened in June of 2011 on Old Jacksboro Highway.
18-year-old Yeni Lopez, who was eight months pregnant, and 13-year-old Gloria Montoya lost their lives. City councilors unanimously voted to pay each family 500-thousand dollars in liability, the maximum allowed by law.
In February on the 9th, Wichita Falls police were called to check the welfare of a mother of three after family members hadn't heard from 32-year-old Monica Partida. When authorities arrived at the home in the 13-hundred block of Britain, they found Partida's body.
Gloria Esquivel, Partida's aunt said, "She was a nice person. She didn't deserve what she got. All we're looking for is some kind of justice. That's all I can say."
Some better news as February came to a close, on the 24th, Habitat for Humanity of Wichita Falls reached a big milestone. The local chapter of the non-profit celebrated its 20th birthday.
