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Iowa authorities have said they cracked the cold case of a young realtor who was murdered 15 years ago, but the killer's motive remained a mystery.
On Wednesday morning, the West Des Moines Police Department announced that it had charged Kristin Elizabeth Ramsey, 53, with first-degree murder for the killing of 27-year-old Ashley Okland in 2011.
On April 8 that year, Okland was shot twice in a model townhome where she was hosting an open house, authorities said.
An employee with Ruttland Homes, the developer of the property, heard commotion outside the townhouse. When she went to investigate, she found Okland with her fatal wounds and called 911, according to Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa.
The young realtor was rushed to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, where she was pronounced dead.
'Ashley's story has kept many of us awake at night, revisiting the details over and over in our minds,' West Des Moines Assistant Police Chief Jody Hayes said at a press conference on Wednesday.
'Searching for that missing piece that would tie everything together and lead us down the right path to identifying a person that was responsible for this act.'
Notably, however, Hayes did not reveal what that 'missing piece' in the investigation was and what new information led to a break in the decade-and-a-half-old case.
'As significant as this arrest is, our work is not done yet,' he said.
'To maintain the integrity of the judicial process, the West Des Moines Police Department is unable to release any additional investigative information regarding this case.'
At the time of the murder, Ramsey worked as an administrative assistant and sales manager for Ruttland Homes, the same company that Okland was a realtor for, according to the Des Moines Register.
It is therefore possible that the two women knew each other, but police did not share Ramsey's suspected motive for the killing.
The Daily Mail reached out to the West Des Moines Police Department outside of regular operating hours to request additional details about the motive and what information led to Ramsey's arrest, but did not immediately receive a response.
The break in Okland's murder case came years after her family members were worried that the case had gone cold and would never be solved.
On the fourth anniversary of the young woman's death, the West Des Moines Police Department announced that they had followed up on almost 900 leads and had interviewed around 500 people.
At the press conference on Wednesday, Okland's brother, Josh, thanked police for continuing to investigate the case after so many years and said: 'Today is a day my family has thought about very often over the last 14 years.'
Okland's sister, Brittany Bruce, said: 'That Friday afternoon when Ashley was taken from us seems so long ago.
'We had lost our hope in finding answers and having any justice for Ashley. It was really difficult to accept that the case had gone cold.'
Like her brother, Bruce also thanked police for not giving up on investigating Okland's murder.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird also spoke at the Wednesday morning press conference and said: 'Today is why we created the Iowa Cold Case Unit... I hoped and prayed this day would come.
'No one should ever get away with murder. Families deserve answers, and there needs to be justice for every victim.'
Okland's obituary described her as 'a beautiful girl inside and out' and said 'she enjoyed traveling, concerts, golfing... exercising, and just being busy.'
Ramsey is being held in the Dallas County Jail on a $2million cash-only bond, according to Dallas County arrest records. Her first court appearance was on Wednesday, and her next one is scheduled for April 10.
If convicted of her first-degree murder charge, Ramsey will face life in prison without the possibility of parole. There is no capital punishment in Iowa.
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