ATLANTA — The mother of a murdered teenager said she has been heartbroken and crying herself to sleep for two years after her daughter’s body was found naked and shot several times in the back at Oakland City Park.
Two years to the day, police announced that they had secured arrest warrants against the man they say killed Bridget Shiel.
"He's a real bad guy," mother Angela Shiel said about Christopher Spencer, the man accused of killing her daughter.
In an exclusive interview with Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez, Shiel said she finally felt some relief, knowing police had finally figured out who took Bridget from her.
“I’m still extremely sad, but I feel relief,” Shiel said.
Bridget Shiel's body was found naked and riddled with bullets in a grassy area near a basketball court in Oakland City Park on May 31, 2016.
Spencer had already been sentenced to prison for another crime. When his DNA profile was entered into the federal DNA database, detectives got a call a short time later that his profile matched Shiel's killer.
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Detectives said they found traces of Spencer’s DNA on a Sprite bottle, clothing and on the victim. It was enough evidence for police to make an arrest.
“She didn’t even know him. They have no contact between them,” Shiel told Jaquez. “And I still don’t know why.”
Spencer was already in prison for the double murder of a DeKalb County couple and was later charged in connection with the murder of two children in Clayton County.
But when lead Atlanta police detective Andre Lowe interrogated Spencer, he didn’t have much to say.
“He denied knowing Bridget or having any contact with her,” Lowe said.
While the victim’s mother hoped for a confession, she told Jaquez that she is satisfied knowing Spencer will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Shiel said this is no longer about Spencer, it’s about the legacy her daughter leaves behind.
“She was so funny, she was sharp as a tack, beautiful,” Shiel said. “I miss that.”