This Christmas season while other people are at home with their families celebrating the holidays, I stand before you trying to put into words the impact that my fathers murder had and continues to have on my family and I. This is very difficult for me to do. Murder is not something that you can get used to. The pain is still intense and the effects are hard to adequately express. How can I explain the daily and constant gambit of thoughts and feelings that I have?
I have lost my father. My children no longer have a grandfather. My unborn child will never even meet her grandfather. My family has lost a son, a brother, a friend. This community has lost not only a successful businessman and neighbor, but a caring human being as well. My father, Ed Strother, lost his life. His sense of compassion led him to help people in need. It is tragic that his last act as a good Samaritan cost him his very life.
My children have lost some of their innocence. They are now painfully aware that there is violence and evil in this world and it doesn't always happen to some stranger on TV or in the movies.
I have lost my faith and trust in people. I have lost my ability to sleep through the night peacefully and without nightmares. I now have trouble finding joy in the simple pleasures of life. Being "happy" doesn't seem "right" anymore. Eating is no longer pleasurable because food is hard to enjoy with a constant lump in your throat. "Normal" activities like watching TV or listening to music can unexpectedly bring on intense feelings of pain and lonliness. Holidays are difficult because there is an empty void where my dad used to be. My career was even cut short by this senseless act of violence. At the time of my fathers murder, I was in law enforcemnet with an honest belief that I could make a difference and help people. Now I no longer have my sense of perspective or the ability to be impartial. I can no longer safely function as an officer, so I have walked away from a career that I worked very hard for.
My entire life has been changed by one act of senseless, random violence. The emotional wounds may heal in time, but the scars will be there forever. I will never again see my father or be able to tell him "I love you daddy." I was not given the opportunity to say "goodbye" or "thank you for being my dad". I am left with questions that can never be answered. Why did this happen? What gave these four the right to take my dad's life? Why was his death so horribly brutal and the wounds so disfiguring, that I could not even recognize his face? Why couldn't they show my father the same amount of compassion and mercy that they expect society and this court to show them now?
I realize that this court can not answer these questions for me. I understand that no amount of prison time for Michael Yates, Lewis Crocker, Shannon Wofford and Tiffany Lindoo can bring my father back or repair the damage done to my family and I. I can only respectfully request that this court sentence them to the fullest extent that the law will allow within the guidelines of the guilty plea. An act so terribly brutal must be punished even if it can never be forgiven. I must learn to accept what is as well as what now can never be. Thank you.