Efforts in solving cold case murder appreciated

To all who assisted in our mother Toni (Thomas) Lister's murder trial we would like to thank you for all your hard work and the many hours you put into this case. To the cold case investigators Tim Hunyor and Jim Skogsdill who re-opened the investigation into our mother's unsolved murder, we thank you. To Pat Gullufsen, Katie Paakki and their legal team ... words alone cannot describe how grateful we are for your countless hours and dedication in bringing justice for our mother. To the witnesses, we want to thank you for your time and your contributions to this case. To the jury and the court we want to thank you for your hours and days that you spent out of your life to help bring peace, happiness and closure to our family. And lastly, to our extended family and friends who have stood by us through all of this and lent support or words of encouragement when needed. Each and every one of you has made a difference in the lives of the daughters of Toni (Thomas) Lister. It's difficult to really put into words and express how much your efforts mean to us. We never imagined after all this time that our mother's murder would ever be solved, as young girls we dreamed every day her murderer would be found and brought to justice. As teenagers, we still had hope, as adults we started to come to terms with the fact her murderer would get away with his crimes.

Finally, after 28 years, you all have provided us with the closure we needed to truly move on knowing our mother's soul is resting peacefully and her murderer is finally behind bars. Our biggest regret is that this was not solved 28 years ago. This man, Jimmy Eacker had gone about his life without remorse for what he did to our mother. He was able to have the 28 years that he took from our mother and from us when he should have been serving time in jail.

Having our mother taken from us when we where young girls caused a hole in our hearts that we could never mend. Our memories of our mother vary with each one of us. The oldest daughter has more memories with our beautiful Mother and the youngest, sadly, has the least. Each one of us clings to and cherishes the memories that we do have. Jimmy Eacker took our mother away from us; he took the ability for us to grow up with her, to learn her values, her beliefs, her ethics or even her mannerisms. Despite what has been portrayed about our mother we want everyone to know that she was a beautiful person, she was a good mother and loved deeply by all four of her daughters, and she is desperately missed. He took away the ability for her to see all her girls grow into beautiful women with families of their own. He took from her the sons-in-law that she would never get to meet. He took a grandmother away from the grandchildren that would never get to know her and love her as we do. We will never be able to understand why a man would take away a mother from her children and in such a vicious manner.

Thankfully, he cannot take away the love that we have for her and our few memories. She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful smile who loved yellow roses, who loved to write poetry, who loved to laugh, and who loved her daughters more than life itself.

Sandy, Heather, Kim, and Tricia

Toni (Thomas) Lister's daughters