It has been 14 years since little Audra Reeves, 5, of Live Oak, was sexually assaulted, drowned and brutally beaten by a Texas man while she was visiting her father in Amarillo, Texas for the summer. On July 20 at 6:19 p.m., little Audra’s family finally got closure when Robert Anderson was executed for the death of Audra Reeves.

“Justice has been served, although this will never bring Audra back or take away her pain he caused her, and the pain her mother and father continues to have,” Audra’s family said after the beautiful little blond’s killer was put to death. “He not only took her life, he also took an innocent child away from her mother and father, a sister away from her brothers, a granddaughter away from her grandparents, a niece away from her aunts and uncles, a cousin away from her cousins and friend away from her friends. This pain they will have the rest of their lives. Our family will never recover from our loss, even though the man who took her life is no longer alive,” the Mortlock family said of their loss of Audra.

According to Audra’s aunt, Theresa Brown of Live Oak, the little girl was spending the summer with her father in Amarillo when she was murdered. She had just graduated from Love and Learn Preschool in Live Oak where she told her teacher, Amy Williams, she was going to Texas to visit her dad. A short time later she was dead in a tragedy that shook Suwannee and Lafayette counties where her family members live.

Audra’s maternal grandmother, Evelyn Mortlock, 67, waited all those years to see justice done, but died Jan. 17 before her beloved granddaughter’s killer could be executed. But, Brown said, as sad as she is to lose her mother, she is sure her mother and Audra were joyously reunited in Heaven.

Anderson, 40, was executed after he requested that no more appeals be filed on his behalf and asked to be executed for the crime he had committed. Arrested a short time after he brutally killed little Audra at his home in Amarillo, stuffed her body into a Styrofoam cooler and then dumped her body in a trash bin a short distance away from the house, Anderson was convicted in 1993.

According to newspaper reports from the Amarillo Globe News, Audra was walking down the street in front of Anderson’s home June 9, 1992 just a few days after she had arrived in Texas when Anderson went out and snatched her. The Globe reported that Anderson and his wife had an argument earlier that day and Anderson was angry.

Anderson’s criminal history, the Globe said, began in his teens with his obsession for young girls. Anderson told the Globe his whole life was a regret. After spending years in prison awaiting execution, Anderson asked that no more appeals be filed, saying he had accepted Christ and wanted to be in Heaven. Anderson told the Glob he was haunted by the little girl during his years in prison.

Audra’s family, the Mortlock family, and her mother, Kathleen Mortlock, have struggled through the past 14 years, trying to deal with the pain and suffering of losing their precious little Audra in such an unspeakable, horrific way. Even after all these years, the pain feels as new as if it were yesterday, Brown said.

But, finally, the family can have some peace knowing Audra’s killer will never kill again.

Susan K. Lamb may be reached by calling 1-386-362-1734 ext. 131 or by emailing susan.lamb@gaflnews.com.