SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest in an unsolved murder case from 19 years ago.
A 31-year-old man, Andre Mahan Sr., was shot to death inside his apartment in southeast San Diego. His wife, Essie Mae Horne, who was shot at but left unharmed, hasn't given up on the search for Mahan's killer.
If there's one thing about Horne, it's that she loves the color pink.
"It makes me happy," she said. It makes other people happy."
It was the first thing ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser noticed about her when they met at the Creekside Villas Apartments, where she used to live.
"The belly of the beast," she said. "That's what I call it."
The beast was unleashed around 2:30 a.m. on August 19, 2006. Her home on the 4600 block of Nogal Street turned into a crime scene.
She brought ABC 10News back to that moment when she first heard gunfire that night.
"I stepped back out to ask my husband, did he hear that noise? When I stepped back out, there was a young, light-skinned male standing in my doorway with his hands up and we locked eyes. As we locked eyes, he fired, and that’s when I jumped," Horne said.
She narrowly escaped death. Her husband did not.
Horne said Mahan was shot in the neck and killed.
"All I remember was them pulling out a stretcher with a white sheet over it," Horne said. "I jumped up and started yelling. I don't know if I said goodbye to his head or his feet."
Mahan left behind their two children, a 7-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son at the time. Neither were home when the shooting occurred.
Horne said she saw the shooter's face clear as day. It was one she'd never seen before, but Horne said she identified him instantly when police presented her with a photo lineup to find the suspect.
"I pointed him out. That's him," Horne said. "They told me he was too young. I said, 'Too young? He is the one that was in the doorway.'"
Horne maintains the shooter looked 13 to 14 years old.
In the San Diego County Crime Stoppers flyer released Tuesday, law enforcement described the shooter as light skinned black male, "17 to 18-years-old."
All parties agree the shooter was wearing a red shirt over a white shirt with what Horne described as a black durag on his head.
Nearly two decades later, that's still the only information out there.
Horne said, to this day, she has no idea why this might've happened. She's unsure if the person responsible is even alive or possibly already in jail for another crime.
However, Horne won't stop searching for justice — and won't stop wearing pink.
"It also represents cancer, and I feel like gun violence is a cancer," Horne said.
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Mahan's killer. The number for the anonymous tip line is (888) 580-8477.
You can also call the San Diego Police Department's Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293.
Follow ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
