On Thursday EverythingLubbock.com spoke with Sherrie Ray — the grandmother of Holli Jeffcoat, 18, who was found murdered February 10 in her Lubbock County home.
Ray spoke with EverythingLubbock.com right after Holli’s death, expressing shock and devastation about losing Holli. She explained that she was very close with Holli, and that her granddaughter planned to move in with her after she graduated high school this year.
Weeks later, she was still struggling to make sense of what happened.
“[Losing] Holli has really done me in. I feel numb inside. I feel nothing. I just want to be left alone,” she explained.
However, Ray had a specific reason to come forward on Thursday.
As more information about this case has come out, Ray has also been sickened to hear accusations made about her family members, in particular her daughter. Ray said that regardless of the findings which come out of the Lubbock Sheriff’s Department’s investigation, she stands by her belief that her daughter, Holli’s mom, was a good mother.
“She protected her kids against so much. She has been through so much,” Ray explained.”Through all of this she had three very good kids, very smart.”
“She was a good mother. For people, if they want to doubt it, look at their school records. My grandson is 19, [and] is in the Marines. Check that out,” Ray said.
Ray admits though that Holli’s death came as a complete shock to her, and that she may not have known all the details of what was going on inside Holli’s home.
“I’m so bad about not asking questions. I get in so much trouble because I don’t ask who, what, when, and where,” Ray said.
Ray isn’t sure exactly why, but Holli’s mom stopped speaking with her after Holli’s death.
“I miss my daughter so much, and I would give anything in the world to be able to hold her or tell her I love her,” Ray said.
During some periods of Holli’s childhood, Holli lived next door to Ray, and at some points they even lived together, Ray said.
Ray recalled laughing with Holli’s mom about pranks the kids had played around the house.
“And when they say Holli was special needs, Holli was special like all my grandkids. But Holli knew right from wrong. She could talk; she could communicate. There was nothing that Holli couldn’t do. I hated to label her special needs, because she was smart,” Ray explained.
While she mourns her granddaughter, Ray finds herself flooded with memories of Holli.
“The most excited I saw her was on her 18th birthday. I got her a phone for her birthday, and I give it to her, and she said ‘Wow Mawmaw, a phone!” and she opened it up. She said ‘Wow Mawmaw. It’s a real one; you got me a real phone!’ and she was so just beyond herself that I got her a real phone. After they left I had to set down and cry because it made her so happy,” Ray recalled.
After Holli’s passing, a picture of Holli waving has spread around the internet. Ray recalls taking that picture while visiting with Holli and her sister at their home.
Ray added that she knows Holli is in heaven with her great-grandfather Hollis for whom she was named.
Her love for her granddaughter has fueled Ray’s anger at whoever was behind the murder.
“I want whoever did this to Holli–God will take care of it–they will have to pay, they just have to,” Ray said. “My kids were raised that way. No matter what you did, you gotta pay the consequences.”
Ray clarified that while she believes she knows how Holli was killed, but she doesn’t know who was involved or why.
“When we do this #JusticeforHolli [campaign], we want justice. I don’t care who did what. Holli needs justice. It’s not right to take such a sweet girl,” Ray said.
The Lubbock County Medical Examiner released information about the cause and manner of Holli’s death Thursday.
But with no arrests so far in this case and an investigation ongoing, Ray knows that it will take a while before justice is delivered.
“I want it over, I want an arrest, I want this done, but to me, I think its just the beginning,” she said.
