by Jennifer Reyes
GALLATIN, Tenn. – Police have asked the public's help in solving a Sumner County cold case.
Four years have passed since Lydia Gutierrez was brutally murdered in front of her two children. Detectives with the Gallatin Police Department who are handling the case have reached out to the FBI and other national agencies for further assistance.
The only two witnesses to the crime can't testify in court because they're too young. Two-year-old P.J. said he and his one-year-old brother Roberto saw their mother's killer.
"She was murdered in front of her two small babies, and the babies were left there for an unknown number of hours fending for themselves," said Sgt. Chris Shockley with the Gallatin Police Department.
Twenty-seven-year-old Lydia Gutierrez was killed in August 2010, at a home on Lincoln Street in Sumner County. Detectives said she was suffocated with a plastic bag, then stabbed multiple times and was left with two with knifes in her throat.
The only named suspect in the case is Gutierrez's boyfriend, Joshua Singletary. P.J. Gutierrez was able to describe it all to police and cited Singletary as the key suspect.
Singletary was later arrested and charged with murder but was released after 51 days. Police said the children's account was not admissible in court because of their age and there was not DNA evidence to place him at the scene of the crime.
Singletary, of Hendersonville, spoke with NewsChannel 5 after being set free and maintained his innocence.
"I've lied about a lot of things in my life but this is not one of them," he said.
According to detectives, Singeltary's friend told police he dropped him off near the home the same day and he later showed up with cuts to his hands.
Sgt. Shockley said he believes someone out there in the community knows the truth and he's hoping this story and the national attention it's getting will bring justice to this family.
Email: jreyes@newschannel5.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/NC5JenniferReyes
Twitter: Twitter.com/NC5_JReyes
