CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In an attempt to find the bullet that killed 11-year-old Amethyst Silva on New Year's Day in 2023, Nueces County District Attorney, Jimmy Granberry is pulling out all the stops, calling on the ATF and its canine to help in the investigation.
"It's moving forward and things are starting to happen, so just praying that everything goes well," Amethyst's mother said.
"I'm glad to see Granberry you know trying to make a name for himself," Amethyst's father said. "You know what I mean? And get some justice for my daughter. Yes, it's been well over a year, but good things come to those who wait."
Granberry said the difficulty in the case is that the bullet that killed Amethyst was never recovered.
"So, we don't have a bullet to match to a barrel of a gun, and without that it's hard to tell who actually fired the weapon that caused the child's death," Granberry said That's the puzzle we're trying to solve here today."
In speaking with the ATF and expressing the case's difficulty, Granberry learned from an ATF agent that the agency's highly trained dogs can sniff out firearm remnants.
Granberry let the agent know that the incident happened a year ago and that any potential evidence at the scene would be weathered.
Regardless, the dog and its handler came from San Antonio and were on the scene looking for any remains from the site where Amethyst was shot.
"And he said that the dogs have done amazing things, and I said, 'Let's try if you're willing to do it'," Granberry said. "We knew this was a long shot. It's still a long shot. We told the family that it was a long shot, but that we wanted to do everything we could to give them peace of mind. They certainly deserve that."
Despite its efforts, Granberry said the dog didn't alert on any spots, but it did show interest in a few areas.
"The dog handler showed us the areas and CCPD forensics is gone to get a metal detector to go back over the area where the dog showed interest," he said.
After CCPD was finished sweeping through the scene, the first assistant to the district attorney, Mike Gordan confirmed that CCPD was unable to locate any bullet or remnants in the areas that the ATF dog had shown interest in.
Moving forward, Granberry said that the DA's office will make their final charging decision and take the case to grand jury. He said that decision should come within the next 30 days.
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