"Lord knows whoever did it, God got his eyes on," said Fredonia Smith's mom in 1982. "He's (going to) take care of you."
She said that in an interview with 13WMAZ more than 3 decades ago, after her daughter was found dead near Washington Park.
Now, after 36 years, Fredonia's brother Eddie returned to the scene he'd for so long avoided.
"(It) brings back a lot of memories," he said.
After years of waiting, this time he's returning with answers.
According to the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, Samuel Little, a confessed serial killer, admitted he was the one who strangled Fredonia to death.
It was too late for most of his family to learn the truth -- Eddie said they've passed away. "At least I was here to get closure," he said.
Maybe it was God that finally made Little confess, like Fredonia's mom thought it would be all those years ago.
Maybe it was luck -- there was certainly more than a little involved.
But maybe, too, credit needs to be given to some dogged police work on a case that went cold but was never forgotten.
"We never stop looking into these cases," said Bibb County Sheriff''s Office Investigator Daniel Shurley.
"In between new cases, you're still trying to piece together parts of it," said Captain Shermaine Jones.
Fredonia's case passed from generation to generation -- the original lead detective from 1982 still checks on it -- so when current investigators Shurley and Jones heard about Little's confession, they flew to Texas to interview Little themselves.
"If you ever look into his eyes," said Shurley, "It was almost like looking into the eyes of a shark. There's no life there whatsoever."
After 36 years, they felt they finally had their man.
And even though the crime happened long ago, Jones says the answers they were able to give Eddie Smith will hopefully help heal a wound that hasn't faded with age.
"That's still somebody's loved one that's no longer here," said Jones. "You want to bring those families that closure."