Tuesday marks five years since a North Little Rock woman was shot and killed while driving through a busy intersection.

Thirty one year old Samantha Olson was traveling down McCain Blvd. with her 11-month-old daughter in the car seat behind her when passing through JFK.

Police say a maroon pickup truck going the opposite direction shot Olson.

The car stopped near Starbucks. Her murder remains unsolved.

Monday, Olson’s sister, April Welshhons released this statement: 

“On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, I sat in my apartment 300 miles from home, going through a breakup when my little brother called to tell me that our sister was dead. This can’t be true I said, to which my brother cursed me out and then I heard my mothers screams, the reality hit. My life shattered, my heart physically hurt, I screamed out loud and lost all control. I collected myself, put on shoes, grabbed my keys and drove all the way home.

It’s been five years since God took an angel from this earth. It’s been five years of heartache and unrest, of countless questions and confusion, a vacancy in our family. On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon a coward took the life of a beautiful woman, a mother, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a friend. A coward that roams free in this world as if nothing is wrong. 

I’ve had to watch my mother, my brother and my daughter go through countless days of agony and pain from the loss of this beautiful woman that we loved so much. I’ve seen first hand what a strangers violence rips from the life a family has. I’ve seen injustice and ignorance on behalf of the city’s part, I’ve seen blind eyes on the behalf of the media, and I’ve seen prejudice on the side of the law. 

In five years I’ve seen a mother breakdown just at the mention of her dead child’s name. A mother I call resilient and strong, determined and defiant, a mother I see apologize for her tears of agony. I’ve listened to my brothers tears of how unfair it is that she’s not here but we are, how much he needs her to guide him as she always did. I’ve watched my daughter struggle with understanding violence and pain way before she deserved to know it. The difficulty task as a child to comprehend that a loving aunt was ripped from her life and understanding the consequences that only our family feels. In five years, I’ve struggled in my twenties without the guidance of an older sister that I once had. Not being able to call her for advice, with good news or ideas, not being able to share my growth with her by my side as big sisters do. 

She isn’t here to see the amazing relationship my mother and I hold, one she begged for us to share when she was still with us. She isn’t here to be the aunt my daughter calls when she’s mad at the world or to call our brother and remind him of what an amazing 

 man he can be with all the talent he has. Lastly, she isn’t here to watch her miracle baby girl grow up. 

My sister had a dream of being a mother and that was a life she was ripped from after only 11 months of bliss. A blue eyed, big grinning, happy baby girl lost her mother before she had the chance to even know her face. 

The coward that committed this heinous crime shattered lives for generations to come, ripped a family apart and left us all questioning the why. And as the city continues its day to day, as cars pass that intersection minute by minute without even noticing the cross on the sidewalk, our family has to live day by day with the heartache. 

To the person that placed the crosses out there and to the business that has left it in place, our family thanks you for not forgetting our Sam. 

To the community, the media, the city and the law enforcement, please remember our Sam, work her case, make it public and often, step up if you know or remember something. 

To the coward that did this, I pray that you turn yourself in and that with justice of the system you pay for this crime. I pray that God grants my mother the strength to forgive you once you accept your sentence, for I know that I cannot. 

As another year passes, I pray that my sister hears us all with the love that we have for her. She is not forgotten, she is dearly missed and she will always be loved.” 

–April Welshhons, sister to Samantha Olson Cass