WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – “Believe it or not,” sums up part of the riveting life of a Black female native of West Palm Beach and Florida A&M graduate whose life could be made of fiction. But instead, it’s the very much real life of Chrichet Mixon, 39, who holds the rare title of homicide prosecutor – meaning she’s a lawyer who prosecutes murder cases.

It’s a field rarely compromised of African Americans. But Mixon knew since middle school it’s what she wanted to do, and today she’s living proof that dreams, no matter how serious, really do come true.

“I’ve known since I was a child that I wanted to help people,” said Mixon in a phone interview this week. “Since around middle school I knew I wanted to advocate on behalf of others.”

Right now, the astute prosecutor is prosecuting a decades-long cold case murder mystery that was solved in the last couple of weeks.

After over 35 years a suspect has been arrested in the case of Mildred Matheny, who was a 78-year-old senior citizen with dementia when she went missing in 1985.

Amazingly, through DNA from a rape kit, the murder mystery was solved and the victim’s family is getting a measure of closure – after hoping and praying for answers all these years. Richard Curtis Lange was arrested last week and charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering the elderly senior. Her beaten and bloody body was found on a dirt road back then. Lange was 25 at the time. Today he’s 61. Mixon is prosecuting the case.

It’s what Mixon spends her life doing – bringing to justice those who have committed egregious and sometimes gruesome murders as well as provide justice to those families seeking it.

Recently Mixon was featured on the critically acclaimed TV newsmagazine “CBS 48 Hours” for her prosecution of a riveting high profile case. Although Mixon is sometimes on the evening news for certain cases, it was her first time in the national spotlight on a crime show which followed her through such a tantalizing case.

It was the case of a Jupiter mother, Gretchen Anthony, who was murdered by her estranged husband who then tried to use COVID-19 as a smokescreen in her death. It was a sensational case that made national news and recently, “48 Hours” called, wanting to showcase Mixon and that mind boggling case stemming from the height of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually Gretchen Anthony’s body was found and David Anthony pleaded guilty to her murder. It was another success story for prosecutor Mixon.

FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE.

Mixon doesn’t take lightly her responsibility as a fighter for justice. Nor does she discount her place as a role model for others. Yes, her mother is fiercely proud of her. And her late father was immensely proud of her as a practicing attorney but it’s the young impressionable minds where she knows she can make all the difference. She’s also a Girl Scout leader, and is incredibly moved when her Girl Scout parents tell her how she’s impressed upon the lives of their daughters. “I’m so honored and grateful when they see someone like me on TV, yet I’m someone they’ve actually talked to, hugged, and can actually call when they need someone to talk to. Because at the end of the day, I am them, and they are me.”

She tells young people, “Dream big, because your goals and dreams don’t have to match anyone else’s.”