The mother of a pregnant teen, who investigators believe was killed by an ex-firefighter in a drunken-driving crash, is speaking for the first time, asking for more to be done in her daughter's case, which has tiptoed through the courts.
A trial date was set for March of this year, but was recently pushed back after the legal team for suspect Horace Shaw was granted a continuance to challenge expert witness testimony.
Shaw spent 12 years with Dallas Fire-Rescue but is no longer with the department after he was charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault in December of 2017.
On Dec. 13, 2017, investigators allege he was driving drunk with a passenger on Highway 67 near Cedar Hill when he crashed his friend's car into Alyssa Pimentel, 18, and her boyfriend Isaiah Perez as they drove home.
Pimentel was nine months pregnant at the time.
Both Pimentel and Perez were thrown from their car.
Arrest documents show that a witness believed Shaw was traveling over 100 mph.
His passenger even told police Shaw was trying to "show off."
Pimentel was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors performed an emergency delivery to save her unborn son, Josiah.
Pimentel's mother, Jayne, told WFAA in her first television interview that she still remembers receiving a horrifying phone call from her daughter's boyfriend after the crash.
"He called us screaming, saying someone had hit them," Jayne said. "He told us we needed to come as fast as we could."
Jayne and her family were directed to the hospital Pimentel was taken to. The teen and Josiah were fighting to stay alive.
The mother told WFAA that the family kept hope, but said her daughter and Josiah only stayed alive for 43 minutes.
They died minutes apart from each other, according to Jayne.
"Devastated. Beyond devastated," Jayne said.
"I never got to hold my grandson, tell him that I loved him, or how happy we were to meet him."
When Jayne heard that the suspect was a firefighter, she said she was in shock.
"This isn't some kid, this isn't a young person that doesn't know better," Jayne said. "This is an adult who knows what they're doing."
"He's supposed to save lives, not take them."
But the loss of Jayne's only daughter and first-born grandson has only been amplified over the last two years.
Slow-paced case
Jayne expressed frustration that her family has yet to have their day in court.
Shaw's case has faced delays in what appears to be a clear-cut case.
But WFAA learned that this case isn't that simple.
In November of 2018, nearly a year after the crash, Shaw was indicted.
Following that, a judge appointed him an additional attorney to help with accident reconstruction, which in itself can take time.
Prosecutors also asked for a continuance at one point, because an officer involved in the investigation took an extended leave from work.
Near the end of 2019, a trial date was finally set for March 9, but that was recently wiped away because Shaw's legal team asked for a hearing to challenge potential expert testimony that prosecutors will bring up during the trial.
The news wasn't easy to digest for Jayne and her family.
"There have been too many times where we feel this has been slow-walked," Jayne said. "It never progresses until we've just screamed, and we're exhausted."
The Pimentels have filed a civil suit against two of the bars that Shaw visited the night of the crash, along with Shaw himself.
Their attorney, Tom Carse, told WFAA that he couldn't believe how long the criminal case has taken to progress.
"The time is up, as far as my clients are concerned," Carse said.
"If this case were in Denton, Collin or Tarrant County, it would have been to trial by now."
An attorney for Shaw, Ashkan Mehryari, talked to WFAA by phone about the case.
Mehryari was the attorney assigned to Shaw by a judge to help with accident reconstruction.
"A family's frustration with this process is understandable," Mehryari said. "But there's nothing unusual about the courts ensuring a thorough investigation and trial. We'd rather go slow, be thorough and precise rather than to rush it to get a result."
For Jayne, the sooner she can get the trial, the faster her family can heal.
"We're at the same place we were almost two and a half years ago," Jayne said.
"And nobody cares."
The Pimentels have started a petition to help speed the case along. If you'd like to sign, click here.