JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After nearly 28 years, an arrest has been made in the murder of Valerie Ames.
"Today, April 2nd 2024, that is 10,098 days our family has had to suffer the absence of our mother," Michelle James, Valerie Ames' youngest daughter, said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office took Jerry Philips, 69, into custody last week in Johnston County, North Carolina. He is being charged with sexual battery and second-degree murder in the 1996 killing.
The body of Ames, 31, was found on Aug. 10, 1996, inside the Courtyard Apartments on King Street in Riverside. First Coast News reported on this cold case in its series, Unsolved, in 2018. Detectives told First Coast News then that the apartment Ames was found in was not hers and the person who leased it was in custody at the time of the murder, as the apartment was believed to have been left unlocked.
Ames was stabbed and beaten to death and Det. Harmoni Brooks told First Coast News in 2018 that there were more than two dozen pieces of evidence she planned to retest for DNA. In Tuesday's press conference, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters declined to elaborate on what led investigators to Philips, but said it involved technological advancements and pointed investigators "to one person and that's how we got here".
Michelle James told First Coast News her mother loved riding horses and camping, but loved her two daughters most of all. James' last memory with her mother was sitting on her lap at her 5th birthday party, and she says the years have done nothing to numb the pain of losing her mother so violently.
In a press conference held Tuesday where the announcement of Phillips' arrest was made, James said: "Her pain and her torture have all become our pain and torture daily."
"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," James said. "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. We want to thank the Jacksonville Cold Case Department and Project: Cold Case for finally giving us that name of the monster, Kenny [Jerry] Phillips. May our mom finally rest in peace."
Project: Cold Case Founder Ryan Backmann read the following statement on behalf of Ames' mother, June Lucas, who was not in attendance at the press conference:
"Although this is open wounds brought back, sadness, tears and anger, we are so relieved for this to soon be over.
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 think the people who are with the Cold Case Unit and the detectives who worked hard and didn't give up on Valerie. All we want is closure so that we can get back to good memories of Valerie."
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in the press conference that Ames's murder "wasn't an absolute stranger situation."
"Today, Phillips' arrest is a victory for not only friends and family members who loved Valerie Ames, but the investigators who never stopped believing that justice could be and would be served," Waters added.
