09 January,2009 09:17 AM IST | | Agencies
A man shot in the back 35 years ago has died from his wounds, despite living a full and active life for more than three decades.
Craig Buford's death has been ruled a homicide, but prosecutors fear the trail for the suspect has long ago gone cold.
Although hospitalized for several months after the 1973 shooting when he was a teen in Denver in the U.S., Buford healed and had few lasting effects, his relatives said.
He drove city buses in Denver and Seattle and was a truck driver before retiring. He moved to Fort Worth about a year ago.
ALSO READ
Ice storms and blizzards pummel central US
Fire burns construction site in US city
Father of Al-Qaeda operative convicted of conspiring to bomb NY subway deported
Officials probe cause of massive Colorado, USA fire; three missing
US shooting: 1 officer hurt, 1 man killed in shooting in Denver suburb
Buford, 54, was hospitalized recently and had surgery after doctors determined his colon had ruptured.
He died on December 29.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Buford's death a homicide, caused by multiple organ failure from complications from his wound.
'He never had any serious health problems, so I was a little surprised to hear all this homicide business after all these years,' his wife, Carolyn Buford, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Tuesday editions.
So far, police and prosecutors said they have been unable to find out who shot Buford. It happened in an era before records could be filed on computers.
Lynn Kimbrough, a spokesman with the Denver District Attorney's Office, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that her office might file charges if evidence and witnesses can be found.
'After 35 years has passed, that might be a pretty tall order,' Kimbrough said.
Buford's wife said her husband told her about the shooting but she didn't know him then.
She said he had gone to school to pick up a girlfriend and started gambling with other teens.
She said he won some money, and when he refused to give in to the other teens' demands to return it, he was shot.
According to a Denver newspaper article, Craig Buford drove himself to the hospital and named a 17-year-old as the shooter.
Craig Buford didn't dwell on the shooting, his wife said. 'He ran into the guy one time, and he said the guy was kind of scared about seeing him.'
'He told him, "Just forget about it. It's over with."'
