CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The tightknit Plaza Midwood community will come together next month to mark a sad anniversary in hopes of finding some answers.
Popular Midwood Smokehouse waitress Ketie Jones was shot to death walking in the neighborhood three years ago. Her killer was never caught.
In the days after Jones was killed, her friends were shocked and wanted to do something, so they canvassed the area in Plaza Midwood looking for clues. But all these years later – still nothing.
"She was the type of person that was fun," said Cara Jorgensen, Jones' best friend.
By all accounts, the 26-year-old Jones was a free spirit. Brendan Coffey met her in middle school in Charlotte.
"She loved so hard and so fiercely. She was fun, intelligent, motivated. She was wonderful. It was like all of a sudden she just was away and there’s still part of me expects her to show up and this was all just a ridiculous mistake."
But it’s not. The beloved waitress at popular Plaza Midwood barbecue restaurant was gunned down while walking home on October 15, 2016.
"Katie walked all the time. It was not out of character for her to be walking at night," Jorgensen said.
Police said they’re stumped; they believed the shooting was random. Surveillance video from a church across the street from where she was shot was their best clue.
You can just make out Jones walking down The Plaza. She left Midwood Country Club where she had a drink with friends. She got about a quarter of a mile from her house when the video showed a car near her.
Police believed enough time passed that Jones probably talked to a person in the car, then likely tried to run away. She was shot once, and investigators believed the video showed the car driving away.
Minutes later, police arrived on the video.
"I don’t know; it doesn’t feel random. It feels like somebody saw her walking said, 'Let me give you a ride home,' and she said no and that might have triggered something."
Some speculate it might have been an attempted robbery.
"Nothing was taken off her body. She had pepper spray. She was doing all the right things. She was in a well-lit area."
"My best guess is this is just deeply unfortunate circumstance. It feels very arbitrary."
Coffey said Jones would not want people feeling differently about Plaza Midwood because of what happened.
“Ketie would not want that. She would say this is a crazy circumstance, and you should love as much or more as you have always."
Jones' friends started a scholarship in her honor. If you know anything about this case, call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.