THE anguished mother of a Scottish oilman gunned down in Texas 20 years ago yesterday said she has finally abandoned all hope of ever seeing her son’s killer brought to justice.
Andrew De Vries, 29, was shot by a homeowner who mistook him for a prowler as he banged on the door of his house in a suburban area of Houston.
Believing he was in danger from two men who had given him a lift, he was begging Jeffrey Agee for help and asking for police to be called as he pounded on the door.
Under Texan law, householders are entitled to shoot suspected burglars and a police probe placed no blame on Mr Agee, and no charges were ever brought.
However the De Vries family, from Broughty Ferry, Dundee, have always been convinced the authorities in Houston botched the investigation and carried on their own quest for answers.
But now, as they prepare to mark their 20th Christmas without their only son, Fiona and Gelt say they’ll go to the grave without an end to their pain.
Mrs De Vries, 67, said: “We will never see justice done. We tried so hard for so long and there was a time when we had hope of holding someone responsible.
“But now we have to let go. While we’ll never, ever, recover from what happened, the bottom line is that whatever we do will not bring our laddie back.”
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