Sister of cold case murder victim: 'I've kept quiet for 11 years, it's time for justice'

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - July 30, 2017, marked 11 years since 34-year-old Allison Jackson-Foy went missing. Her sister, Lisa Valentino, says enough is enough and is demanding answers to this unsolved homicide.

"Eleven years later it is really hard to think about how she met her end. I read the autopsy reports over and over again in disbelief on how could someone have so much hatred for someone," Valentino said.

Jackson-Foy was last seen July 30, 2006, at a bar on Carolina Beach Road. Her remains were discovered in a wooded area about three miles away in 2008.

No one has been charged with her murder.

On Sunday, Valentino sat in silence and dropped off flowers near the ditch where the remains of Jackson-Foy and another woman, Angela Rothen, were found.

"I came to Wilmington this weekend because I feel like this is my last shot," Valentino said. "I feel like no more work is going to be done on this case short of a confession or another miracle happening."

For the past four months, Valentino has been writing letters to District Attorney Ben David, Wilmington police, and Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo wondering why a man who she was told was a suspect -- Timothy Iannone, a former Port City cab driver who police say was in the bar Jackson-Foy disappeared from -- has not been charged.

"He has been the only suspect according to police for nine years," Valentino said.

Last July, WECT interviewed Detective Lee Odham with the Wilmington Police Department in regards to the unsolved murders. He told WECT's Marissa Hundley that he believes both Jackson-Foy and Rothen were murdered by the same person. Odham is no longer a detective on this case.

"From serial killers to citizens whose names have come up in the investigation," Odham said in July 2016. "We, by process of elimination, have eliminated all but one suspect in this case. That is Timothy Iannone."

On Friday, we spoke to David about Iannone and if this case is a stalemate.

"If I thought we had enough right now to move forward with this case, we would, but right now we don't," David said.

When asked if Iannone was a suspect or a person of interest, he said, "I will not name anyone a suspect or person of interest or a defendant until we have the confidence to persevere forward.

"Since this time last year in addition to meeting with detectives and some family, we have conducted additional interviews, and there is currently a follow-up investigation," David added.

Valentino stated that she was told as recent as March that Iannone was still the main suspect.

"For him (David ) to sit in that office and say that to you, when that's not necessarily what has been said behind close doors, makes me so angry," Valentino said with tears in her eyes.

Valentino says all she wants is for David to convene a grand jury, present the evidence of this case and let them decide how justice will be served.

"Remember it was not just my sister left in this ditch. It was also Angela Rothen, and who knows if there are more bodies out there from a serial killer," Valentino said. "My family and I have nothing to lose, so if I don't start speaking up and pressing for answers, then nothing will be done."

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