“Nov. 4, 2003, the Highway Patrol had come into my office and read me my Miranda rights. I had no idea, no suspicions what was even going on,” Keith said in an interview on Tuesday at her home.

In a news release on Dec. 1, 2003, the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop G, based in Willow Springs, said its investigation revealed slightly more than $42,000 disappeared from Mansfield accounts between September 2001 and September 2003. The Highway Patrol said Keith was arrested on Nov. 26, 2003, on seven counts of stealing.

Four years, nine months and 21 days after Keith was first questioned and subsequently charged with felony stealing, a jury found her not guilty late Monday after 18 minutes of deliberation.

“Yesterday was my day to let the world know that I am innocent,” she said.

Now, she's trying to rebuild her reputation where she and her family still live.

"There's always that question on people's mind: did she do it?" she said.

No one at Mansfield city hall would talk about the verdict. That's not all about which they were being quiet.

They also wouldn’t say whether new safeguards are in place to prevent taxpayer money from being ripped off. No one at Mansfield City Hall would answer questions about whether new policies or procedures have been implemented.

According to the Highway Patrol's investigation, more than $42,000 was swiped from the city between 2001 and 2003. But Keith is not so sure any money was every stolen. She says audits always came out clean.

Keith says not only did the jury's quick verdict prove there wasn't any evidence but also offers over the years for her to settle for a lesser charge indicate a lack of proof.

"I was asked, ‘Would you take a misdemeanor, if they reduce it to a misdemeanor; no felony, nothing on your record, suspended sentence? Would you plead guilty to that?’” she said.

She didn't accept any deals because she has always maintained she's innocent.

Her fight has taken a heavy toll on her finances, her family, her reputation and her spirit.

"They could have physically tortured me to death and it would not compare to the mental anguish that myself and my family have been through,” Keith said.

Keith says it's been impossible for her to get or keep a job over the years because of the felony stealing charge. She says she had to rely on her family, friends and fellow church members to get her through this both emotionally and financially.

She says it took so many years for the case to go to trial because the prosecutor kept trying to collect more evidence, which she says doesn’t exist.