Ten years to the day that a teenager and woman were gunned down during an execution-style killing inside a Delaware big and tall store, relatives and police hold onto hope that their killers will one day be brought to justice.
Twenty-two-year-old Jessica Watson and 18-year-old Matthew Macerato were gunned down Dec. 26, 2004 in the Casual Male Big & Tall store along Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, Delaware. Each was shot in the back of the head by someone who forced the two into the basement of the store.
"It brings back memories, bad memories, it was a night you will never forget," said Matthew Macerato's father Gene.
"The pain is still there, there is no closure, the wound is still fresh and it's still the same day but a different year," said Watson's mother Paulette Wilson while trying to hold back tears.
Gene Macerato, Wilson and other relatives and friends gathered outside the now Casual Male XL store — just like they have for the past 10 years — to release balloons and hold vigil for the two lives lost.
“He was very young and very innocent,” friend Tony Castro said of friend Matthew Macerato. “It was just really tough for me.”
The clothing store workers were closing the shop up for the night when a robber came in, took some cash and shot them dead. Castro said his brother, who was the store’s manager, stepped out just before the robbery took place.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
“My brother said ‘I’ll be right back.’ And when he came back all there was is yellow tape,” he recalled. “A lot of people changed after that day.”
The store had no video surveillance and attempts to identify fingerprints on a shell casing found at the scene proved futile. Vigils were held on the anniversaries of the victim’s deaths, but as the years came and went, those weaned.
Delaware State Police Detective Mark Ryde joined the force in 2009, told The News Journal of Wilmington that the robbery seemed to be an afterthought to cover up the execution of Watson and Macerato.
On Friday night the families released balloons and held candles as they remembered Matthew and Jessica.
As the families searched for closure, Wilson made a plea to her daughter's killer.
"Please take responsibility for the families that you've devastated."
Anyone with information is asked to call Ryde at (302) 324-6102.
