VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The mother of a 28-year-old Orange City woman’s whose body was found on an Osteen trail this week said she wants her daughter to be remembered for being caring and selfless.
“She was a very strong person,” Suzanna Humphries Reep said.
Her daughter, Amy Desiree Layne Humphries’, body was found by a man walking down the trail Tuesday evening. Investigators said she was stabbed and slashed several times before her body was left on the walking path.
The next day, deputies said the person of interest in the case, Brandon McLean, 32, got into a shootout with Seminole County deputies in a Sanford neighborhood.
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Reep said she last saw her daughter on Saturday and gave her a big hug when they parted.
“If it’s going to be the last time you’re going to see your loved one, I’m glad that my daughter came, and I’m glad she knew that I loved her,” Reep said.
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McLean, the person of interest in the case, just got out of prison six weeks ago. He served time for aggravated assault, false imprisonment and home invasion robbery.
Reep said her daughter knew McLean before he served time and was talking to him while he was in prison and once he got out.
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“Amy was a lot like me and she was a fighter and she was a very strong person and she wants us all to go on,” Reep said.
Reep said once there is an arrest and trial in her daughter’s murder she plans to be there in court every step of the way making sure her daughter gets justice.