State Attorney Amira Fox is excited to announce the forming of a Cold Case Homicide Unit within the State Attorney’s Office. 

This Unit, with the assistance of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, made their first arrest in September. “I want to thank our Southwest Florida legislative delegation and our Governor for providing the funding for this Unit. The Cold Case Homicide Unit will work in partnership with our local law enforcement agencies to help bring resolution to families who have lost a loved one to homicide,” stated Fox. 

State Attorney Amira Fox announced the arrest of Terry McDonald for the murder of Mary Mount. Mary was last seen in Lee County in 2004 when she was 28 years old.

The newly formed State Attorney’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit was asked by State Attorney Fox to help bring resolution to Mary’s case. The team has been working diligently with the accumulated evidence and recently traveled to Arizona and then to Texas where McDonald is incarcerated for another crime. The team was able to obtain new evidence culminating in an arrest in partnership with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. This new evidence allowed the State Attorney’s Office to move forward on this case, charging the defendant with murder.

State Attorney Fox would like to thank Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Captain John Long, Assistant State Attorneys Dan Feinberg and Stephanie Russell and State Attorney’s Office Investigators Jennifer Griffith and Steve Scalici for their dedication to this case.

“I am extremely proud of the hard work and many long hours put into this case by the Cold Case Homicide Unit and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office allowing us to charge McDonald with the murder of Mary. This is a case we have never given up on,” said State Attorney Fox.