Valerie Ames was found dead Aug. 10, 1996, in a vacant apartment in Riverside. | Project: Cold Case via News4Jax
Published on April 2, 2024 at 2:46 pm
For 10,097 days, the murder of 31-year-old Valerie Ames went unsolved after she was found dead in a vacant apartment on King Street in Riverside.
Then one of her two daughters asked investigators in 2018 to reopen the case, and the result was the arrest of a man in North Carolina, police said Tuesday.
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Jerry Phillips, 69, has been accused of second-degree murder and sexual battery in the 1996 murder. Sheriff T.K. Waters said the man was not an “absolute stranger” to Ames.
Holding back tears, daughter Michelle James said her family has suffered for a long time awaiting this news.
“Her pain and her torture have all become our pain and torture daily,” James said at a news conference Tuesday. “Standing here today at almost 28 years later, we now have some answers on our beautiful mother Valerie, and she has finally reached her chance to have justice. Her voice can finally be heard, and we want nothing but that justice. So Valerie, a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, an aunt and a friend, can finally have that moment.”
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News of the arrest also has reopened old emotional wounds for others in Ames’ family, like her mother, June Lucas. Ryan Backmannof Project: Cold Case helped after James asked police to reopen its investigation. He read a statement from Lucas saying the arrest brought back “tears and anger” and other emotions.
“We are so relieved for this to soon be over,” Lucas wrote. “Now we await and pray for justice for a daughter, mother to Pamela and Michelle, and had she lived, six beautiful grandchildren. We want to thank the people with the Cold Case unit and the detectives who worked hard and did not give up on Valerie.”
Aimes was found in a pool of blood Aug. 10, 1996, in a vacant unit at the Courtyard Apartments on King Street. Her two daughters, then ages 5 and 9, were in England when they received a phone call informing them of their mother’s death.
The residents of the apartment told police they did not know her. And friends and family told police that Ames, who lived in Arlington, had no car, so no one knew how she got to the Riverside area.
In announcing Philips’ arrest, Waters would not specify what led to it, other than to say there was “very good information” and advancements in technology that narrowed the search to one person.
Police did not specify where and when Philips was arrested, or when he will be brought to Jacksonville for his prosecution. State Attorney Melissa Nelson added that Philips has not been indicted yet.
