
The number of unsolved homicides nationwide has left too many grieving families, friends, and neighbors without the closure that a perpetrator’s arrest provides.
Giesela Tanner and Nicole Gardner are two of the many Moms Demand Action volunteers who are fighting for reinvestigations of unsolved homicides by advocating for the passage of the California Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act. The proposed bill will be brought forward again in 2025. If passed, the bill would give grieving families the right to request a new investigator to review their loved one’s case. If that review found that a full reinvestigation may yield new leads, the case would be reopened.
For Tanner and Gardner, the Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act brings hope after years of waiting. They believe it will bring them one step closer to holding their children’s killers accountable and bringing justice to families in situations like theirs.
Read their stories below.
Giesela Tanner
On a balmy May night in 2019, Gielesa Tanner was getting ready for bed in her Orange County apartment when she heard a knock on the door. A neighborhood acquaintance informed her that her 28-year-old son, Ellis Reed, had been shot in the chest less than a block from the family home.

“I’m doing 100+ down the freeway to get to the hospital. [The hospital staff] calls me into the back and tells me that my son is gone,” Tanner recalled. “My only child, the one who made me laugh, the one who I looked at as my purpose, the one who gave me strength on days that I never felt like I wanted to do anything. He always kept me focused. And, then, the most important thing, that boy loved on me. I felt all of that was gone.”
In her grief and despair, Tanner yearned to understand what transpired in the minutes between her son walking his girlfriend to her car and the fatal shooting. As police conducted their investigation, Tanner’s love for her son compelled her to learn more about that night’s event. She consulted her sister-in-law, who worked as a sheriff out-of-state, and reached out to criminal justice experts around the country. Tanner watched published footage of the shooting and interviewed neighbors who witnessed the event. “When it comes down to Ellis, I needed to have answers,” Tanner said. “I needed to find out who took my son’s life. I didn’t give a damn… I’m not afraid of anyone.”
Still, more than five and a half years after Ellis was taken by gun violence, the police have not made an arrest.
Tanner described her son’s unsolved homicide as “suffocating.” She explained, “It’s like taking a breath and not being sure of your next breath. It is overwhelming. You get in the mindset of doubting yourself as a mother. You failed them in a way of protecting them,” said Tanner. “Now, to even think that the case may never be solved—you feel defeated.”
Tanner’s experience is devastatingly common. Thirty-nine percent of families in California grieving a death by homicide are forced to grapple with the pain of a loved one’s death compounded by the uncertainty and eroding trust in the criminal-legal system that accompanies an unsolved case.
Tanner had experience overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles for her son during his life. She recalled learning to balance his blood sugar levels after his diabetes diagnosis at age two and finding stable housing after fleeing an abusive relationship. Now, in her son’s death, she considers bringing her son’s killer to justice no different—even if it requires significant change within the system. “It gives me a sense of purpose. I will never quit.”
Tanner is advocating for her son’s case to be reopened by a new detective through the California Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act (CA AB 2913). Though she was initially distrustful of police officers, Tanner grew to respect and appreciate the law enforcement officers who were assigned to Ellis’ case. However, she believes their work was limited due to overwhelming caseloads and their department’s general lack of resources. Tanner hopes a more robust investigation will generate new leads. She shared her experience directly with California’s lawmakers, urging them to pass the bill. “Through Moms Demand Action, doors were opened to me,” Tanner explained. “I was able to meet with lawmakers and tell them about Ellis—something that I had never done before.”
Tanner sustains herself in moments of despair and hopelessness by reading a Mother’s Day card that her son gave her mere hours before his passing. In neat pencil handwriting, Ellis inscribed, “Happy Mother’s Day. God gave me the best mom ever. Mom, I love you so much. I will be with you forever and ever. Thank you, Mom, for being with me.”
Nicole Gardner
Exactly a week after Thanksgiving 2015, 20-year-old Ronique Gardner-Williams spent the day with her friend at the mall, enjoying the reprieve from her busy schedule at the College of Marin in Marin County, California, where she was studying veterinary technology. She called her mother to tell her that she would be home shortly and that she had a ride home. While in the passenger seat of her friend’s car, Ronique was fatally struck by a bullet in a drive-by shooting.

“I was crushed. It just opened up something in me, a whole bunch of different emotions — anger, sadness, grief,” said her mother, Nicole Gardner. “It was unbelievable because Ronique was such a good person. She was sweet, she was caring, she was loving. She never got into any real trouble. When that happened, I was like, ‘Okay, I can’t just let that just happen like that. I have to fight for her.'”
Ronique’s grieving family was disappointed by what they perceived as an apathetic response by the local police department. Gardner would call the detectives assigned to the case and leave voicemails begging for updates, only for them never to return her calls. The year mark of Ronique’s death and her birthday would pass with no acknowledgment from any police officer. Gardner felt that they were dismissing her case. “Every time I am able to reach the detectives, they just say they don’t know anything and, if they get any info, they’ll call me. But it feels like her [homicide] has just been forgotten about,” said Gardner. “I am going to talk about her so much that they have no choice but to find the person who did this.”
Nine years have passed since Ronique was shot and killed. The police have not made an arrest.
Ronique’s case underscores how gun-related crimes are particularly difficult to solve. The perpetrator left no physical evidence behind and had no previous interaction with Ronique. Additionally, police investigations are less likely to yield an arrest when the victim is Black, like Ronique. A 2018 Washington Post investigation found that nationwide, just 46 percent of homicides involving a Black victim result in an arrest compared to 63 percent of murders involving a white victim. The disparity in clearance rates further deepens distrust of law enforcement in Black communities and the pain of grieving families.
The trauma of Ronique’s sudden death continues to impact Gardner’s day-to-day life, compounded by anger at the lack of accountability. She described withdrawing after her daughter’s death, finding it challenging to go somewhere where she might encounter new people. “I avoid going to things just to avoid people asking me that question, ‘How many kids do you have?'” Gardner explained, “Then I have to [tell them about Ronique’s homicide], and then I start crying, and I want to leave.”
When Gardner learned about the California Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act (CA AB 2913), she felt hopeful. “The idea that a new, fresh set of eyes would be able to look at her case and open it back up,” Gardner said, widening her eyes in excitement. “That’s what I fight for.”
Gardner traveled to California’s State Capitol to meet with legislators and encouraged them to pass the bill into law. She brought along a photo of Ronique so they could learn her story. “I see a lot of her friends getting married and having children. And I think, ‘What would she be doing right now, at 29 years old?’ I was robbed from that…from watching my daughter grow up,” Gardner said. “You never get over it. It is always that longing in your heart for justice.”
Take Action To End Gun Violence
Giesela Tanner and Nicole Gardner are just two of the many Moms Demand Action volunteers across the country who are fighting to end gun violence. Join us to do the same.
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