WSVN — An elderly woman lying in her bed was shot in the mouth by a burglar who broke in. She survived for two years, but she was never the same again. Now, 18 years later, as Patrick Fraser tells us, detectives are back on the case to find out who would shoot an 82-year-old woman, "Point Blank."
It takes a special kind of coward to shoot an 82-year-old woman while she is sleeping in her bed.
John Grabis, victim’s son: "Someone who had the unmitigated gall to shoot her point blank in the mouth."
Police were called to Milda Grabis’ Miami home on that January morning in 1998. The officer wrote down what he saw.
Miami Police Detective Andy Arostegui: "As he put it, ‘He was gurgling in her own blood on her bed.’"
Ironically, after her husband died in Germany during World War II, Milda had brought her two little boys to America to escape violence.
John Grabis: My mom was, to make it short, incredible."
Milda worked hard raising John and his brother, even buying a duplex for the family. She rented one side and lived in the other.
That’s where police found her bleeding 18 years ago.
John Grabis: "The house was trashed. Drawers taken out, everything turned topsy-turvy."
Incredibly, Milda survived, but it was not a pleasant life.
John Grabis: "She was on a feeding tube. She never had a voice again. She was unable to move."
The day of the crime, police took fingerprints at the scene, but they didn’t get a match. Now, 18 years later, cold case detective Andy Arostegui has reopened the case and resubmitted the old evidence, hoping new technology will point the finger at the gunman.
Detective Arostegui: "This is a dangerous person if they’re still out there."
If the gunman is caught, he will be charged with attempted murder instead of murder, since the cause of death was listed as a heart attack at the nursing home. But John is convinced that shot to the mouth is why Milda died two years later.
John Grabis: "I absolutely, positively think that the cause of death for my mom was the bullet wound."
Detective Arostegui: "It’s a very difficult case. It’s a frustrating case."
Detective Arostegui didn’t reopen the cold case just to review. He wants to solve it.
Detective Arostegui: "I’m hoping that someone will watch this segment and remember something that will help us."
And as badly as Detective Arostegui wants to handcuff the gunman, John wants even more to find out the person he is convinced murdered his mother.
John Grabis: Yeah. I’d like to have that person identified. I’d like to have that person brought to justice."
On Jan. 27, 1998, someone shot Milda Grabis while she lay in her bed on Southwest 25th Avenue in Miami. If someone told you something about that, even if the attacker is dead, give Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers a call at 305-471-TIPS.
I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.