A mother is refusing to give up on justice after her daughter was murdered in San Diego nearly one year ago.
Josephine Wentzel held a press conference at the Phoenix Police Headquarters Saturday morning to ask for the public's help finding her daughter's killer.
Last June, 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell of Phoenix was found dead in a San Diego apartment where she was visiting friends.
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Mitchell was on vacation in California with her boyfriend Raymond "RJ" McLeod. When officers arrived at the apartment, the woman was found not breathing and later pronounced dead, police said.
Last year, Wentzel told ABC15 that her daughter was strangled but wanted to know whether she suffered or not.
"Talking to the coroner, all I want to know is, did my daughter suffer? Did she fight back? You know...what happened to my daughter?" Wentzel asked in an interview last year. "She was just taken away and slaughtered. It was just so wrong."
McLeod had fled the scene before officers arrived and investigators have been unsuccessful in their attempts to locate him for questioning.
It's believed that people in the Valley may have information about the suspect's whereabouts, police said.
Krystal Mitchell was the mother of two young children. A U.S. Marshal spokesperson said finding Raymond could bring some sense of closure to the woman's family.
McLeod, a former Marine, is described as being 5'11", 245 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes, police said. He is tattooed and is known to frequent gyms.
He is an Arizona native but it's possible that he fled the country after Mitchell's death. He was last seen driving a white Lexus or Infiniti four-door sedan with temporary Arizona registration plates.
The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to McLeod's arrest.
