At 16 years old, Nikki Hamilton promised Angel Ormston’s family that she would dedicate her life to advocating for justice on her behalf. Ormston, a 17-year-old from Mentor-on-the-Lake, was murdered in the summer of 1992 and her body was found in Perry Township that December. That promise made mor e than 30 years ago continues to be fulfilled by Hamilton, and now she has established a foundation to help other families in need across the country as well. On what would have been Angel’s 51st birthday, Hamilton launched A Promise Kept Foundation in her honor. According to the foundation’s website, A Promise Kept partners with victims, survivors, grieving families and crime-response professionals to provide long-term support, advocacy and guidance. “It’s a victim advocacy nonprofit built on something I learned firsthand — that while many organizations show up in moments of crisis, families also need someone to stay with them for the long haul, including parole hearings, just like I did with the Ormston family,” Hamilton said. “Along the way, I’ve learned just how rare it is — nationwide, and especially in Ohio — to win two maximum 10-year parole continuances. Those kinds of outcomes shouldn’t be rare, and that realization really shaped what came next.” On July 31, 1992, Ormston disappeared after going to the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor. Her body was found on Dec. 15, 1992, lying facedown in a Perry Township ditch. Two weeks later, her boyfriend, 19-year-old Chardon resident Mark Sotka, was arrested for the crime. Sotka was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 30 years after he admitted killing Ormston by punching her in the face and stabbing her twice near her heart. Hamilton has continued the fight for more than three decades to deny Sotka parole and to support the Ormston family any way she can. Last year she established a scholarship in her friend’s name. Hamilton has made a video sharing the story of the promise she made to Angel, which can be viewed on YouTube. For more information on the foundation, visit www.apromisekeptfoundation.org. ...read more read less