ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – Detectives at the Rockledge Police Department announced on Monday that they made an arrest in a more than 7-year-old murder case.
Cathy Clifton has been waiting for this day since Sep. 1, 2007 -- an arrest in the execution-style murder of her son, 36-year-old John Clifton Jr.
"I would never give up, and I finally did it. I got him, I got the shooter," said Cathy Clifton.
Rockledge police said Monday they arrested Tamond Cole, 37, who has been in prison for the last six years after being convicted of aggravated battery in an unrelated case.
Investigators said Cole shot and killed Clifton, a father of two, in front of his mother's Rockledge home. Police won't say what the motive was, but say it wasn't random.
"I hope he gets what's coming to him and then some," said Clifton. "He deserves every bit of it."
Since the murder, Clifton had been speaking with investigators weekly, if not daily.
As detectives were doing doing their part, she was doing hers by putting up billboards around town hoping for a break in the case.
Last year, she got the break, when a new witness came forward and new evidence was put on the table, which investigators said pointed to Cole as the triggerman.
"It's great," said Nick Dalluzzi, a detective with Rockledge police. "As a parent and as a mom, a grieving mom, to bring her some closure. This is what she's wanted for seven years."
Cole is at the Franklin Correctional Institute, in the Panhandle. He's now awaiting extradition back to Brevard County, where police say he'll face second-degree murder charges.