Courtesy photo No arrests have been made in the eight years following the death of Theresa “Summer” Hubbard.
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer
As another summer approaches, Theresa “Summer” Hubbard’s family is still waiting for answers, still seeking justice.
Almost eight years since the 37-year-old Clovis mother of two disappeared, there have been no arrests.
Hunters found Hubbard’s skeletal remains in September 2000 on a rural ranch near the Roosevelt and Bailey County lines. She had been missing more than two months.
Lt. Roger Grah of the Clovis Police Department said the case nags at him and it’s one he has vowed to close.
“That’s probably the only one that I haven’t completely solved yet… It’s the only homicide I’ve been involved in that I haven’t gotten cleared,” he said.
By the time she was found, Hubbard’s remains had been disturbed by animals and the elements to a point where a cause of death could not be determined.
Hubbard was identified through dental records.
Once they knew who the victim was, it didn’t take long for investigators to track her last known locations and interview friends, family and associates, Grah said.
While police conducted their investigation, Sharon Lewis said she too began searching for answers to explain her sister’s death. Hitting the streets of Clovis where the police believe Hubbard died, she talked to people who knew Hubbard and retraced her steps.
“I traveled everywhere to find out who knew what about my sister and I found out everything,” she said.
What unfolded was a story of drugs, money and a woman who paid the ultimate price for her addiction.
Her sister, who used drugs and associated with other users and dealers, was beaten to death over money, Lewis said.
The case has been a frustrating one for Grah, who, like Lewis, believes he knows what happened to Hubbard.
“I can tell you from minute to minute where it happened, who was involved. I can tell you step by step how the whole thing happened,” Grah said.
But the circles Hubbard lived and died in closed ranks and police have not been able to breach the silence.
He said the case hasn’t gone to court because potential witnesses who know what happened won’t come forward.
Over the years, Lewis said she has watched her sister’s children grow and battle their own questions about their mother’s death.
Now as time passes, Lewis said she is afraid her mother will not live to see the justice her sister deserves.
“They’ve got all the information, they’ve got witnesses,” she said, not understanding why the case can’t move forward.
She admits her sister was no angel. A once hardworking woman who fell into drug use, Hubbard went back and forth, she said. She sought the comfort of church, looking for a way out of her lifestyle, only to be pulled in again time after time, Lewis said of her sister.
But regardless of the choices she made, her sister didn’t deserve to die, Lewis said.
Grah said he won’t give up until Hubbard’s case is closed and an arrest is made.
He hopes someone will come forward and provide what’s needed to bring it all together once and for all.
“All cases are close to your heart,” he said, but Hubbard’s is one he can’t let go of.
“It’s not done and it’s going to be done.”
