PORTLAND, Ore. — On Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, Melissa Greely got the fateful phone call. That's when she learned that her 26-year-old daughter, Cali Bolden, had been shot dead outside of a party in Southeast Portland.
"It feels like it was just yesterday ... it's still raw," she said. "It was about 4:17 in the morning. I got a call from a family friend that was out at the same party. He was screaming and crying and told me that Cali had been shot and he was holding her and he kept telling me, 'I think she's dead. I think she's dead.'"
Portland police arrived on-scene that night to find three people shot. Bolden, one of the three, died at the scene. Two others were taken to a local hospital with life-threatening gunshot wounds.
"It was something I couldn’t believe. I kept telling him, 'No you’re lying to me, you’re lying to me!' I just couldn’t fathom it," Greely recalled.
Bolden, the youngest of five, left behind three children of her own. As the family came together to pick up the pieces, Greely said they pushed detectives to keep investigating Bolden's murder.
Then, nearly 11 months later, she got another call.
"They had arrested two people," she said. "I was relieved."
On Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, detectives with the Portland Police Bureau, with assistance from U.S. Marshals and members of the Criminal Investigations Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, arrested William A. Watson, 32, of Pierce County, Washington, and Candice M. Hicks, 34, of Covington, Washington.
According to PPB, Watson was arrested on charges of second-degree murder, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm. Hicks was arrested on charges of second-degree attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
As of Monday night, both suspects were behind bars in the Pierce County jail, awaiting extradition to Oregon.
Greely said she doesn't know them.
"They did take somebody special from us," she said. "I will be in the courtroom for every court hearing, and every parole hearing. I will be there until I die."