VIDALIA, Ga. — On July 3, 1991, recent Berry College graduate Kirsten Davis left Rome, Georgia in her trusty Subaru wagon.
She headed all the way through Central Georgia on her way to see a friend in Vidalia. She never made it.
As she crossed the bridge into Toombs County, someone shot into her car, killing her.
33 years later, her mom Barbara Davis still clearly remembers her husband taking the call.
"He put his hand over the phone and he said, 'Kirsten has been killed,'" Barbara said. "And I said, 'Oh no.' My first reaction was, 'We needed more time, we needed more time together.' I wasn't ready for this to be the last of -- the end."
After getting shot, Kirsten's car crossed to the left side of the road, drove several hundred feet before running off the right side, hitting an embankment, and overturning.
Never-before released evidence photos from the GBI show the spot where Kirsten's car stopped. First responders had flipped it back upright by the time these photos were taken.
Two people who passed by around 1:30 a.m. stopped at a convenience store that's now out of business, to call for help. Investigators believe this was about half an hour after the shooting.
The case faced hurdles from the start because investigators say Kirsten was at a low risk to become a violent crime victim.
"The only thing that elevated her risk slightly would be traveling on a rural highway that's dark alone in the early morning hours," says GBI Special Agent Logan Holland.
Kirsten came to Georgia from her home in Boulder, Colorado on a special Chick-Fil-A scholarship.
She set out on her own from mom, dad, and two brothers - one of whom was her twin.
Kirsten wanted to be a teacher. She volunteered helping foster children.
With her brand new diploma she was eager to start her new teaching job in Georgia, a big step in her dream she shared with her mom back in high school.
"She said 'Mom, if I could get one or two kids out of each class that I teach to go to college, I would be so excited!" Barbara said.
But that dream came to an end on Highway 297, just inside Toombs County.
After 33 years, the drive is on to give the old case a new look and new life. That's where Agents Jamie Abercrombie, Logan Holland and the GBI cold case squad come in.
The team from the Behavioral Sciences Unit take a fresh look at old cases, and with their training as criminal profilers, they're even trying to look inside the mind of the killer.
A lot of training goes into profiling. An agent has to work through an extensive book list on subjects like criminal behavior, case histories, scene evidence, even child abuse and assessing threats.
Then they go through a series of classes, on everything from interviewing suspects, to blood spatter analysis, and advanced homicide investigation. After that, they have to do three different residencies where they shadow and learn from working profilers all over the country.
"So with profiling we tend to look at the behavior of the offender," Abercrombie said. "Not just what actually happened but studying why the offender chose this particular victim and why they committed this particular crime."
"You look at the victimology, you look at the crime scene, and you look at the autopsy information, and with that, you try to glean what type of offender would commit that particular crime and that particular manner," Holland added.
The agents said even the smallest, seemingly insignificant details could be crucial in cracking the case.
"There are a variety of different behaviors that somebody could exhibit after committing a crime like this," Holland said. "It could be increased use of drugs, or drugs and alcohol. It could be a quick move where all of a sudden - they leave town, try to separate themselves from the area where this occurred."
He also says someone could try to change their appearance or habits, possibly going from well-kempt, to not taking care of themselves.
Most of all though, especially since this happened in a small town, it's important that anyone who remembers any little bit of information, any strange behavior, any unusual occurrence from that time, speaks up. It could be the break that finally solves the case.
"It's been 33 years and we are still working to try to find some type of resolution" Abercrombie said. "We want this case solved and we are spending time and effort and resources in attempting to do that so that hopefully we can bring justice to Kirsten and her family."
That family includes a mom still waiting for answers.
"People have often said to me we have such good memories of her," Barbara said. "I do [too]. But we haven't made new memories for 33 years. And so that's, it's difficult sometimes.
Because of Kirsten's love for Georgia, her family had her buried here. They moved to north Georgia from Colorado soon after, where her mom still lives. Her father died before ever getting answers about who murdered their daughter.