MONTICELLO - The father of a British tourist gunned down in a botched robbery attempt 10 years ago placed flowers Sunday at a Panhandle highway rest stop - the place his son died in a crime that shocked the nation and frightened foreign tourists.
Terry Colley, a retired courier, tapped his heart several times and inhaled a couple of deep breaths to keep his composure as he placed a bouquet of mixed flowers with yellow roses on a large stone memorial at the rest area along Interstate 10 and another under a marker where a tree was planted in memory of his son.
"I'm not a believer religiously, but I believe there is something there," said Colley, who traveled to Florida from Brighouse, West Yorkshire in northern England to mark the 10-year anniversary of the shooting. "Where he died is where he left his body, and I believe that's here."
Gary Colley was 34 when he was shot and killed as he and fiancee Margaret Ann Jagger rested in their rental car in the pre-dawn hours of Sept 14, 1993 - the apparent victims of a random holdup attempt while touring the southern United States.
"I think it was just one of them things," Colley said Sunday. "If it hadn't been Gary and Margaret that night, I'm sure it would've been somebody else."
Jagger was also wounded in the shooting, but recovered and later testified in trials of the attackers.
Now a decade later, Jagger has begun to move on with her life.
"She moved out of the house which is a good thing," Colley said. "She's got a new relationship, a nice chap. She's moving forward slowly."
It was the second tourist slaying in Florida in a week and the ninth that year - infuriating the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, who later slipped on a bulletproof vest on a visit to South Florida to condemn the violent activities.
Shortly after the shootings at the rest stop about 35 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida authorities added armed nighttime security at the state's rest areas. The security remains today.
The teens who attacked the couple ranged in age from 13 to 17.
Aundra Akins, now 24, and John J. Crumity, 26, are serving life sentences.
DeRon Spear, now 27, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The youngest defendant, Cedric Green, now 23, pleaded no contest and testified against the others.
Colley, 67, stays in touch with Florida authorities on the legal maneuvers of the young men involved in the shooting.
Crumity is seeking a new trial on grounds he had poor counsel.
"I don't know about forgiveness," Colley said. "How can you forgive when they took my son away?"
