Crime victims honor deceased family members

More than 450 people have been murdered in Iowa during the past decade.

Men and women convicted of those crimes often get plenty of attention, but it's easy to forget the family members left behind.

Just about everyone faces some kind of challenge or difficult moment every single day. But, almost nothing can compare to losing a loved one. That's why Victims' Awareness Week (April 18-24) is so important and so powerful for survivors' families.

Most families bear crosses few ever see or notice, but this family's pain is public.

“Because of the cost that it takes to get into this family, we don't want it to get any bigger,” Pearl Shanda said.

Tragedy tore their lives apart and united them as a new family of brothers and sisters.

“If we didn't have them to rely on, I don't think we could have made it through this experience,” Jessica Young said.

On Sunday, family members hammered crosses into the ground near the Cedar River. They labeled each cross with the name of a murder victim. As Shanda drove the wooden cross into the ground, she thought about who created her new family.

“I was hammering at the devil and at evil, really, and just trying to wipe it away from this place here, just trying to wipe it out of my life,” Shanda said.

Shanda's niece, Angela Meill, and brother, David Tomlinson, were killed twelve years ago. Shanda's spirit almost died that day, too.

“I woke up to that reality in a very, very horrific way and I didn't like the reality that I saw,” she said.

A victim's support group helped her face reality and share stories with people like Young. Young's cousins, Molly Edmonson and Katrina Hill, were murdered four years ago.

“I just hate that I didn't experience more with the girls because now they're gone,” Young said.

Despite all the effort to end deadly violence, the group grows every year. Each new death sprouts a new branch on this broken family tree.

On Friday evening, survivors will gather at the Hillside Wesleyan Church in Cedar Rapids for a candlelight vigil. It starts at seven o'clock and all are welcome to come show support for victims of violent crime.

-Mark Geary, KCRG-TV9