“She’s not here physically, but she is here in our hearts,” said Scotti Choice, Gloria’s oldest son.
The 57-year-old mother and grandmother was found beaten to death in a vacant Woodhaven apartment on Dec. 9, 2005. A suspect was arrested in March 2012 but released a week later due to lack of evidence.
Gloria Choice’s killing is just one of nearly 1,000 unsolved homicides in Fort Worth. Families, many of whom have been waiting decades for answers, are still holding on to hope that their loved one’s case will be solved.
“That would take a huge burden off of us,” Scotti Choice said.
On a Friday afternoon in early November, Choice sits on a brown sofa in his southeast Fort Worth living room, surrounded by memories. A high school graduation photo of his mother, dressed in a cap and gown, gazes down from a nearby wall.
“Everybody loved her greens,” he said. “My mom could cook though. She cooked anything — meatloaf, pork chops or steaks.”
Gloria frequently came over to cook for him, Choice said. If his car broke down, she showed up to take him where he needed to go. And she showered her grandchildren with love.
Gloria never got to meet her approximately 30 great-grandchildren, but Choice keeps her memory alive. “Do you know who it is?” he’ll ask, showing them her photo. “They know because I show them the picture all the time,” he says.
Choice said he’d like to see more detectives added to the Fort Worth Police Department Cold Case Unit and more funding for things like DNA tests. He hopes DNA from his mom’s case can be sent to a lab for testing soon.
He’d also like to see detectives re-interview people they talked to immediately after the murder. Somebody knows something, Choice said. Maybe they’d be willing to share this time around.
“I know it’s a lot of cases and stuff — they can’t just work everybody’s case like that,” Choice said. “But I quite believe, sure, that my mom’s case could be solved.”
Choice is around the same age now as his mother was when she was killed. His health declined after his mom’s death, and he still struggles with depression. He says prayer and staying involved in the lives of his nephews and nieces keeps him going.
“I’m just waiting to see, hoping one day they let me know ... that they have somebody arrested for the murder of my mom,” Choice said.
June Ward
Dave Ward was 8 years old when his mother, June Ward, was strangled by an unknown assailant in south Fort Worth.
Police speculated the 25-year-old nurse may have had car trouble, according to the Star-Telegram’s archives. Her white Chevrolet Laguna was abandoned on an Interstate 35W service road, not far from where her body was found in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 1977.
For years, Ward didn’t think his mom’s case could be solved. It seemed like a random crime, and there wasn’t much to go on.
“I’m not going to let myself down and get, you know, get consumed by it and lose something in addition to what I’ve already lost,” Ward said. “(That) was kind of my feeling for my early adulthood.”
Around 2011, a cold case detective contacted Ward and told him they’d obtained a partial DNA sample and were sending it in for testing. No match was found, and the case stalled again.
In 2018, Texas-based forensic laboratory Othram started making headlines with technology that pairs traditional DNA testing with genealogy. Two years later, advanced DNA testing from Othram led to the arrest and ultimate conviction of the man who murdered Fort Worth teen Carla Walker in 1974.
Ward said that gave him hope that his mother’s case is solvable. He’d like to know if there’s enough DNA evidence to test again, this time using advanced technology from a lab like Othram.
According to Ward, when investigators contacted him about the DNA sample several years ago, they were transparent about what they had and what they were trying to achieve. It hasn’t been that way in recent years, he said. He still hasn’t been able to get a clear answer to whether or not there’s enough DNA to try again.
“There’s just absolutely no information,” he said.
Kym Caddell, founder of a group that aims to raise awareness about the city’s unsolved homicides — Thaw The Cold Cases — agrees with the need for transparency. She understands detectives can’t share all they know, but it would help families to know what’s being done to move the cases forward.
“What’s changing there, you know, to give families hope?” Caddell said.
Cold Case Unit
Chief Eddie Garcia, who was sworn in as Fort Worth’s top cop in September, and Sgt. Joe Loughman of the Homicide Unit said the department is taking steps to resolve as many cold cases as possible.
“Those are important to us,” Garcia said. “You know, these are not just numbers. These are human beings. These are people that want justice.”
The Cold Case Unit currently employs two full-time detectives and two part-time reserve officers, Loughman said. In addition, the 14 detectives from the main Homicide Unit review cold cases as time permits.
The department is also harnessing the power of technology to help them move ahead. Loughman said they recently began partnering with Othram, and the lab is currently digitizing all of the Fort Worth Police Department’s cold cases. They hope to finish by the first part of 2026.
Once the cases are digitized, Fort Worth investigators will be able to use Othram’s case logging system. All the information, including what evidence is available for each case, will be in one place and easily accessible to the detectives. It will save a tremendous amount of time, according to Loughman.
“We are trying to get ourselves in a good position where we can get these ones — where we have DNA evidence that we’re able to find a genealogical tie — so we can solve these cases for these families,” Loughman said.
Garcia said he wants victims’ families to know they aren’t forgotten.
“They won’t be forgotten here by the Fort Worth Police Department,” Garcia said. “They’re not going to be forgotten by these detectives that are incredibly dedicated to this particular type of murder investigation.”
Elsha Rivera
Missing persons is another type of case that causes agony for family members. Elizabeth Rivera has spent more than 20 years trying to find out the fate of her daughter, Elsha Rivera. The 24-year-old disappeared from Fort Worth on Feb. 1, 2004. She left behind four children, including an 8-month-old little girl.
“I’ve spent 21 years in torment,” Elizabeth Rivera said.
Rivera told the Star-Telegram that she was living in Florida when her daughter disappeared. Elsha was planning to visit her, but Rivera asked her to wait a few weeks so she could send her enough money for the trip.
Elsha agreed and told her mom she would mail Valentine’s Day cards to her children, who were staying with Rivera. The two talked over the phone on Jan. 30, and Elsha promised to call again on Feb. 1. The call never came, Rivera said.
“When she didn’t call me, I got worried, and every day that passed, I got even more worried,” Rivera said.
Rivera said she called police to report her daughter’s disappearance, but she was told she needed to make the report in person. Another one of her daughters was finally able to make the report for her, but by that time several weeks had gone by.
After interviewing people who knew Elsha in Fort Worth, investigators seemed to believe the young mother had simply walked off of her own free will. Rivera said it couldn’t have happened that way. She also found it very strange that Elsha left her purse and shoes behind, something she surely wouldn’t have done if she’d left on her own.
Inside Elsha’s purse were photos of her mother and children and a little tube of cold sore medicine in a baggie labeled “for Mom.” Rivera said that’s more evidence that her daughter was planning to see her soon. She believes Elsha wouldn’t have just run away without telling anyone.
Rivera said she’s realized that “missing” isn’t the right word for people like her daughter. “My daughter was stolen,” Rivera said. “She’s not missing — I didn’t misplace her. She was stolen against her will and against mine.”
Earlier this year, Rivera traveled to Fort Worth to meet with former Police Chief Neil Noakes and detectives who handle missing persons cases. She said she was told they would re-open Elsha’s case if she could bring them more evidence.
According to Rivera, she past caring who’s responsible for Elsha’s disappearance. She just wants to know where she is.
“She’s like a needle in a haystack,” Rivera said. “And I don’t know what haystack to jump into and find her.”
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