FORT WORTH, Texas — Three years is a long time to wait for anything, but a Fort Worth mom has been determined to see justice done for her teenage son. On Monday, she will finally be in court to face his alleged murderer.
"It's going to be the first time I'm in the same room with the people that did this," Chesala Markham said.
Markham's son Chaz Gilley would be 21 years old, but his life was snuffed out in 2016, just a little ways from his family's apartment. The 18-year-old had just started a new job and rode his bike to a Walmart off East Berry Street in Fort Worth to cash his paycheck.
"Two men saw him cash his check and pretty much followed him until he left the store," Markham said.
According to an arrest warrant, as Gilley rode home, those men knocked him off his bike and then chased him before shooting him multiple times. He died later at the hospital.
"I was literally out of my mind with grief, and they diagnosed me with PTSD because of everything," Markham said.
Markham has been waiting for justice ever since.
Trial dates have been scheduled and then pushed back at different points, and one initial suspect later had charges dropped.
"They say the wheels of justice turn slowly, and they do," Markham said.
But Monday, finally, there will be a big step forward.
One of the two men now accused of her son's murder, Lajerrian Morgan, will be in court. His trial for capital murder is set to begin this week.
Markham promises that she will be there in the courtroom too.
"They will see my face everyday, and they will know they hurt us. But they didn't destroy us," Markham said.
She is continuing the fight for her son, as long as it takes.
"It's the most important thing in my life," she said. "Making sure these men can't get out and hurt somebody else's babies."