The Case, And A Search For Justice

Ashley Luthern: After only four months as a homicide detective, Rose Galindo thought she had the case.

Every detective has at least one.

The case that eats away at you, haunts you. A victim you never forget.

The April 7 shift-change briefing at the Milwaukee Police Administration Building outlined the basics: A woman was driving. She was shot. No suspects.

And, most likely, she wasn't the intended target.

A half-second earlier or later, an alternate route, any other twist of fate and Fredricka Hodges would not have been killed that day.

Three weeks after Hodges' death — after the few initial leads had dried up and fresh homicide cases had come in — Galindo pored over the case file and searched for any detail that could be checked again. She came upon more than a dozen 911 calls that had been reviewed soon after the incident happened.

She slipped her headphones on and listened. For hours.