Fort Worth

Family Wants Answers in Grandmother's 1991 Cold Case Murder

After 25 years Fort Worth police are still trying to figure out who would murder a grandmother in a most brutal way.

Ladye Gallaher was found dead in her home by a caretaker, and her family is not giving up hope that justice will be served.

Her grandson, Ivan Harris fondly remembered his sweet grandmother.

"She taught me all my manners, and I loved that," he said.

Gallaher's pictures decorate the entry way of his Fort Worth home. They are the memories he holds onto. However, the memories of her murder are still so difficult to discuss.

Family members say the 84-year-old woman was beaten with a nightstand lamp and possibly strangled on Christmas Eve, 1991.

"Just the thought of her getting hit with that and being murdered the way she was, I just can't imagine. She was just 65-70 pounds, and frail," said Harris.

His eyes welled up with tears, still in shock 25 years later.

"It was a bad day, it was a bad day," he said.

The condominium where Gallaher's lifeless body was found on Bellaire Street is now property of Texas Christian University. The home has been demolished, but the memories, horrific details and lack of answers still haunt her family.

"We all thought we knew who did it: the people that were caring for her," said Harris.

But those caretakers were cleared.

At one point Harris, himself, was a suspect. He had to take a polygraph in the weeks following his grandmother's murder.

"I didn't like it, but against my attorneys โ€“ they said don't take it โ€“ and I said, 'Hook it up right now,'" he said.

Harris was also cleared, and he says the mysterious murder has left a dark cloud over the family.

Harris says the only way they'll get justice for Gallaher is an arrest in the case.

"Step forward and clean this up so we can move on. Just let us move on," he said.

Fort Worth police are actively investigating Gallaher's murder and continue to conduct interviews.

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