Baltimore mother won't give up hope for justice in daughter's 2005 murder: 'I'm going to fight'
BALTIMORE - Nearly 18 years ago, Tiona Smith, a woman from Baltimore City, was found brutally stabbed to death in Baltimore County.
No arrests have been made in the case.
Police are sharing photos of a car they believe Smith got into the night before her body was found.
Her mother, Theresa Wooden, refuses to give up hope that her daughter's killer will be found.
Wooden told WJZ that her daughter's life was full of promise.
After all these years, she still prays for justice.
She wants to know why someone murdered her daughter.
"I just want to ask this person why," Wooden said. "That's the only question. Why?"
Wooden said the pain from losing her daughter will never go away.
"I miss my daughter, you know, we don't plan this when we have children, to be burying your child," Wooden said.
On November 5, 2005, Baltimore County Police said the 23-year-old Smith left her job at a McDonalds on Cranbrook Road in Cockeysville around 10:45 p.m.
She took an MTA bus to a stop at the intersection of North Eutaw and West Fayette Streets in downtown Baltimore.
Police said the last time Smith was seen alive, she was getting into a car.
"That was my biggest fear, something happening to her because she didn't drive," Wooden said.
The next morning, around 11 a.m., detectives said two children playing in the 6800 block of Fox Meadow Road in Gwynn Oak found Smith stabbed to death behind a home.
To this day, detectives do not know why Smith was in the neighborhood where she was found.
"I want justice for my daughter because she didn't deserve to die like that at all," Wooden said.
Wooden describes her daughter as easy-going and friendly.
She had just graduated from college and wanted to work with children.
She would be 41 if she was alive today.
"I carried her for nine months just for somebody to come along 23 years in her life and take her life," Wooden said. "I'm going to fight until I leave."
"Baltimore County Police said Wooden stays in contact with them regularly about the case.
Detectives want you to contact them if you know anything about Smith's murder.
