Killer faces appeal: 'We really want some closure'

Killer faces appeal: 'We really want some closure' »Play Video
Lisa Flormoe and her sister, Lorna.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Lisa Flormoe, 22 of Eugene, was visiting friends near Wilsonville in August of 1991. She opened the door of the home she was visiting and was greeted by a stranger, 16 year-old Todd Davilla.

At the time, Flormoe did not know the boy would be the one to take her life.

Flormoe was raped and brutally murdered with a pocket knife that night.

It took several weeks to hunt down the suspect but the investigation eventually lead detectives to Davilla. When police caught up with the boy he confessed to killing Flormoe.

When Davilla went to court he was tried as an adult, in spite of being a juvenile at the time of the murder.

He was initially sentenced to 116 years in prison. After numerous appeals on the grounds of his age at the time of the crime,  his sentenced was reduced to 20 years.

Nearly 20 years since he was sentenced, Davilla is still being held in jail on account of the appeal.

On October 23rd, the appeal hearing is scheduled in Portland at the Clackamas County Courthouse. Flormore's mother, Karen Smith, said that Davilla should serve out his initial sentence.

"People say well everything happens for a reason...the only reason I’ve ever come up with is this happened to her so horribly that we could put him away forever and he wouldn’t be able to do this to anybody else," Smith said.

Smith and Lisa's sister, Lorna, said they have had a lot of frustration with the judicial system.

"It just keeps going on and on. We really want some closure to the whole thing and be able to heal and move on ... without realizing every time we go to court it’s only gonna be a few years and we’ll be back here," Lorna said.

But for Lisa's mother, the only thing that will truly make the pain go away is to have her daughter back.

"The feeling for me was just the grief of wanting her back…that lasted for a long time. I would love to have her back...if she could come back next week I would say give him another chance. I know that’s impossible but it took me a long time to be able to let that go because that’s all that made me feel better," Smith said.

Davilla has chosen not to have a jury during the October 23 appeal. A lone judge will make the decision on behalf of his future.