Mother doesn't believe daughter shot herself

“My soul, I died when she died.” It’s been a year since Kisha Mills buried her daughter Ke’osha, “I just can't believe she's gone.”

On August 25, 2015, 20-year-old Ke’osha was at her step-brother’s house, when a gun went off killing Ke’osha. Travis County Sheriff’s investigators told Kisha, Ke’osha accidentally shot herself. “Not knowing what her last words were, what her last thoughts were. What was she doing when she took her last breath? That's the hard part for me,” Mills says.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office says Ke’osha died from a gunshot wound through the chest. “I don't believe my daughter played with guns, I don't believe my daughter picked up a gun, I don't believe that she accidentally shot herself.”

Investigators told Kisha there were three people in the room: Ke’osha, Ke’osha’s step-brother, and his girlfriend. They say both Ke’osha and her step-brother had gun residue on them, but they didn’t believe Ke’osha’s step-brother pulled the trigger. “The fact that she was with her step-brother, he was supposed to protect her, she was supposed to be saved,” says Mills.

And the Travis County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t closed the case, which leads Mills to believe there’s more to the story, and she says she thinks someone else in the room accidentally shot Ke’osha, “there's no evidence to determine which way, or what really happened.”

When Ke’osha died, she left a four-month-old son behind, his name, Forever. “He keeps me going,” says Kisha. Forever is the only link Kisha now has to her daughter, “At the end of the day, I try to remind myself that I am just Grandma. And he doesn't even know the special mom he had, he do look at me as his mother.”

A mother’s love that knows no bounds for her own daughter, and now her grandson. And while Kisha will likely spend the rest of her life looking for answers to her daughter’s death, “It's just something that I'll never be able to let go. I just want to know the truth.” She is learning to adjust to her new normal, grateful for Forever, “I'm blessed that he is here, I don't think I could have made it without him - he is my strength - he keeps me busy.”

The Travis County Sheriff's Office tells FOX 7 the case is still open and under investigation but that no arrests have been made. FOX 7 filed an open records request for Ke'osha Kanada’s autopsy report but the Travis County Medical Examiner replied with a letter from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office stating he is allowing the Medical Examiner to withhold the records because the case is still open.