‘No justice, no peace’: Anna Marie Scott’s family searches for answers nearly two months after her death

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - A family demands justice after the murder of Anna Marie Scott.

The 23-year-old was found inside a burned car on Southbound I-580 at the Galena Creek Bridge.

Her dad, Joseph Erwin told KOLO 8 News Now, his family is still overcome with emotion nearly two months after her death.

“I’m still mourning over her,” said Erwin. “It’s taking a lot out of me.”

“Every day is a challenge,” said Victoria Erwin, Scott’s stepmom. “She didn’t deserve to die the way she died.”

Described by her family as a ball of joy and a Raiders fan, Scott had one goal in life.

“Be the best mom,” said Victoria Erwin.

“Yes, be just like my wife, she always said that to me,” said Joseph Erwin.

“She loved her babies with her soul,” said Victoria Erwin.

On February 3, deputies with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office were called to a car on fire on the shoulder of the freeway during the early morning hours.

“She had posted on social media that Wednesday,” said Victoria Erwin. “That Thursday, I had not seen any post and then I’d seen the car and I looked at him and I said, ‘I think there’s something wrong with Anna’ and he was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘I think this is her car’.”

The Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Scott died from a gunshot wound.

Her stepmom says they don’t have much information besides what investigators have shared with the public, but she’s sure someone out there knows something.

“We did communicate with her friend, which was odd to us,” said Victoria Erwin. “She did say she had seen Anna that night and that she had left Anna alone with some people that she hadn’t mentioned to us, I don’t know if she mentioned it to the detectives, but to me that was odd. How are you just going to leave your friend alone? Maybe she knows something that she’s scared to speak up, but she needs to speak up.”

Scott leaves behind a daughter and son who have been told their mother is in Heaven.

“Her daughter looks at the phone and says, ‘Mommy, I love my mommy’ and kisses the phone,” said Victoria Erwin with tears in her eyes.

The family is part of the Paiute Tribe and says what hurts the most is not being able to give Anna a traditional, proper goodbye.

“I would like to say our daughter’s life was cut short on February 3, 2022, and I want the people who did this to her to come forward and admit to what they did because it was foul,” said Scott’s mom Peggy in a text message. “I want justice for Anna. My life will never be the same, it’s unfair and unjustified. Please, if you know something, say something.”

The family says this will not silence them and they will fight because with “No Justice, No peace.”

They are working on having a prayer and a march, in honor of the 23-year-old and other missing, murdered indigenous women.

If you have information, call the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division at (775) 328-3320 or Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900.

The Scott family is also asking for donations to help pay for a headstone for Anna, and to raise reward money for any information found on her death. The link to the fundraiser can be found here.

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