Grieveing Mother Pleased With Cold Case Arrest

11 years after her son's murder, a local mother finally sees justice in sight. Blame the delay on confusion over a suspect's name.

Lula Hillman wiped away tears outside the first appearance courtroom at the Palm Beach County Jail. Inside she witnessed Eric Phillips standing before a judge Thursday charged with the killing of Hillman's son, 17-year old Casper Ellick, back in 1997.

"My son is dead and he shot him with a shotgun," exclaimed Hillman, as tears fell. "My heart is still heavy. It's just like it was the day that they killed him."

The day was September 21, 1997. Hillman says she learned her son had been murdered as she was preparing to go to church. It happened on 2nd Street in West Palm Beach. Police say Ellick was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.

Soon after police charged a man named James Brooks. He was convicted of first degree murder and is now serving life in prison.

Detectives also had a second suspect. Through witnesses and fingerprints in the car, detectives got an indictment against a man people knew as Elijah McIntosh.

Recently West Palm detectives looking at old cases, did some research and realized the indicted Elijah McIntosh was really Eric Phillips. Phillips, facing unrelated charges in Miami-Dade County, was booked for the murder of Casper Ellick, and returned to Palm Beach County.

Hillman says she had begun to lose faith in the justice system, but is now pleased with Phillips' arrest.  Hillman says she hopes prosecutors seek the death penalty. "I feel like it's a death for a death," said Hillman. "That's the way I feel about it."

The judge ordered Phillips held with no bond.