Yes family. Unfortunately Don is unavailable to tell his side of the story and the forensics tests are delayed for more than a year. There are still a lot of unanswered questions.
I am sorry for your loss, Jenny. I’ll bet Don was an interesting character and having his case unresolved is horribly stressful for the family.
First, let me say, there’s a possiblity that the crime team there is overwhelmed or incompetent. Assuming this is not the case however, there is probably more going on in this “inactivity” than meets the eye of the family.
Sometimes the DA holds onto a case - won’t resolve it - because he wants to see if anything else shakes out in evidence and does not want to let the suspect off the hook. They do that when they don’t have enough evidence to prosecute but still hold suspicions. The DA is not comfortable with closing the case. Sometimes witnesses come out down the road. The neighbor may talk to someone if he is held under the pressure of not being cleared by the DA. There are many ways to skin a cat.
The DA could say he is not finished investigating just to mess up the neighbor’s grab for Don’s money. The criminal investigation is not resolved, so the neighbor can’t sue the estate as a victim of Don. They leave the case in limbo to get what licks they can in on the killer. The DA can’t chat with you about it.
It is the height of creepiness for the neighbor who killed Don to sue his estate. People are sorely twisted these days. I would guess this is why the DA just can’t seem to finish up his investigation and clear the guy even though he might not have enough evidence to prosecute him.
The unresolved case hurts the killer more than it hurts you. It leaves him in limbo and in fear that he might suddenly hear a knock at his door. This may be the only punishment he gets out of this since Don is not here to tell his side of the story.
As far as the estate’s attorney fees go, the receiving charities will be interested in how much of the estate went to the law firm’s fees. This disclosure is the usual procedure at the estate settlement. Charities have lawyers who know how to look out for their client’s interests.