GAINESVILLE, Va. — Debbie Holland exhaled, and said God never prepared her for the grief of losing her daughter – a mother of two – killed when someone opened fire at least 72 times on I-95. It was before dawn on Mother’s Day, 2017.
“I heard a knock on my door and I knew. And, I started praying,” Holland said in an interview Thursday. “She never heard her youngest baby speak. She never got to see that first birthday.”
“And both of her children will never know what it’s like to say, with joy in their hearts, ‘Happy Mother’s Day,’” Holland said.
Sharayne Holland’s murder driving home to Prince William County marked one of the most vicious crimes in Virginia for 2017. She was at a Richmond graduation party, and after a fight among mutual friends, a car drove up to hers in downtown Richmond – a passenger the pulling the trigger.
The FBI and Virginia State Police confirm the murder is not a cold case, and the investigation is still being pursued.
But the toll of the most terrible day for Debbie Holland and her husband, Wayne, is still plain to see. They’ve moved to a different neighborhood, with too many memories of Sharayne in their old, otherwise perfect home in Prince William.
“We put on a brave face, but we can’t hide when the pain returns in the middle of the night,” Debbie said. “I think of her babies – these children are without a loving mother, who they would've been deeply in love with.”
The FBI still has a $50,000 reward for anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest. A celebration of life for Sharayne will be held Saturday, May 11 from 3-9 p.m., Stonewall Park Pool, Manassas.
To anonymously report new information on the 2017 unsolved Mother’s Day murder, click here to call or email Virginia State Police.
