NEWPORT, Ky. — More than a year after her son’s death, Shelly Trautman said her family is still waiting for justice.
When you walk into Trautman’s home in Newport, there sits a memorial dedicated to her 18-year-old son, D’Angelo Wilson, who police say was shot to death in August 2014, just two months after graduating from Newport High School — and weeks before he was to start his freshman year of college.
Since, it’s been a long 14 months for D’Angelo’s family since his death in August 2014.
BACKGROUND: Family, friends grieve fatal shooting of Newport HS grad
Trautman told WCPO there have been countless hearings, a delay in DNA evidence, and difficulty in finding witnesses to the fatal shooting.
Makyle Wilson (Campbell County Detention Center)
In the days following D’Angelo’s death, authorities took then 17-year-old Makyle Wilson — who police say shot and killed D’Angelo — into custody, but there was question in the courts as to whether the suspect would face a grand jury and be charged as an adult in the case.
Trautman, accompanied by family and friends, demonstrated outside Campbell County courthouse in the days following her son’s death. She recalled looking at Makyle in the courtroom and seeing what she called “a monster.”
“I never looked into a kids eyes that showed no remorse,” she said last August.
After appearing in court in January 2015, Makyle has since turned 18 and was taken into police custody in July.
Now, a trial date has been set for January 25, 2016, according to Campbell County court records.
Trautman said she hopes justice will be served for her son.
“It’s been hard. It’s been long,” she said. “It’s like [the shooting] keeps occurring every time we have to go to court.”
Friends and family rallied outside Campbell County Courthouse in Newport in the days following D'Angelo Wilson's death. (Tony Mirones/WCPO)
But in the meantime, Trautman continues to place new flowers in her son’s former bedroom, converted into a memorial to the teen, to accompany the photographs and mementos that she says keep her son’s memory alive.
Friends and family said they remember D’Angelo for his sense of style, laughter and always “doing the right thing.”
Trautman also said D'Angelo was an organ donor. Trautman has set up a GoFundMe page in D'Angelo's honor, in support of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center's Tree of Life program, which pays tribute to area organ donors every year during the Christmas season.
