ST. LOUIS COUNTY - Baby showers, pink balloons and a beautiful baby girl days away from being born.
It was the world of a young woman on the brink of having a daughter.
But the baby was never born. And now it's part of a nearly 26-year-old nightmare for the baby’s grandmother.
Cozette Reynolds is firm in her Christian faith, but nearly 26 years ago, her spirit was broken. Now, she posts scriptures around her house. The scriptures give her hope and keep her positive when she’s hurting over the loss of her daughter.
She said her daughter, Valencia Reynolds, was brutally murdered when she was a week away from giving birth to a baby girl. Reynolds was stabbed more than 25 times. The attack happened in the early morning hours on May 16, 1992.
St. Louis County's Chief Cold Case Investigator, Joe Burgoon, said someone entered Reynold's home near Lord Drive and Princess Drive in north St. Louis County and stabbed her over and over while her 18-month-old son was in the house.
He describes the case as horrific, “Those get to you sometimes, they shouldn't have to see that. They were 18-months old, but how much do they remember? You don't know with a child."
Cozette says she raised the toddler on her own. She says it was difficult, “How can you look a child in your eye and say, I'm your mommy now.” However, that’s what Cozette had to do. She says it was difficult helping him to understand why his mother was gone.
After all, Cozette wanted answers herself. She says some unusual things happened leading up to her murder. For instance, Cozette says she gave her daughter a gun, because she noticed a difference in her daughter's door frame, several weeks before she was killed, “I saw the chipping at the door frame. Day after day after day.”
Cozette says her daughter had a lot going on in her personal life a few months prior to her murder. She says her daughter ended her relationship with her fiancé, the father of the baby she was carrying. She also had a rocky relationship with the father of her little boy. Cozette says Valencia told her that her son’s father used to beat her. Cozette says he did not contact or speak to her after Valencia’s murder.
Valencia was studying to become a nurse. Cozette describes her as kind, caring, compassionate mother and daughter. At this point, she’s just praying someone comes forward with information to help solve this investigation.
CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
If you would like to make an anonymous tip to St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers, call 1-866-371-TIPS (8477). You also can click here for more information on CrimeStoppers.
