FREDERICKSBURG, Texas – Melodie Noah's nightmare began two years ago this week, when her son Trey disappeared.
"I knew immediately something wasn't right because he wasn't calling me back," Noah said.
Six months later, the 2007 graduate of Blanco County High School turned up dead.
"We just kept thinking he was just going to come home," remembered Noah.
Two men, Brandon Harber and Shelby Moore, were charged with murder shortly thereafter. Shelby Moore was Trey Noah's cousin and served as a pallbearer at his funeral.
Moore and Harber will eventually be tried in Gillespie County, but almost a year and a half after their arrests, a trial date has yet to be set.
Assistant District Attorney Steve Wadsworth said his office is "aggressively prosecuting this case," despite a seemingly extensive delay.
An initial confession from Moore was tossed out in a pre-trial hearing. The DA is appealing that decision. That could take a long time, however. Gearey Reamey, a member of St. Mary University's law faculty said that's because courts are bogged down with case lists a mile long.
"We have a limited number of courts and judges and juries to hear those cases," said Reamey.
That was of little consolation to Melodie Noah, though, who can't stop thinking that the two men accused of killing her son are still on the loose.
"So you don't really know, is anybody really monitoring them?" Noah asked.
What she wants is justice for her son, or at least that process to begin in the courts.
"It makes you want to take justice into your own hands, and we know that's not right," Noah said.
Investigators believe a fight between the cousins led to Trey Noah's murder.
There is still no timeline on when the prosecution's appeal will be heard, but that has to happen before a trial can even begin.