stories
gone but never forgotten
April 22, 20219 years ago, June 20th, 2011. My Sister, Kandace Rose, my bestfriend, my role model...turned into my guardian angel. Her life was taken by her husband and his brother, who were both in the marines. I relive that night a lot, waking up from a loud knock on the door by a police officer, then hearing my mom scream and cry on the phone to my grandparents that my sister was gone. I was diagnosed, at a young age with depression, ptsd, anxiety disorder, the list goes on. It was hard to accept and even harder to accept that we got no justice for my sister...her husband was given 8-10 years with time served, which at that point was 3-5. His brother was charged with drug possession and was let go. This whole thing happened in North Carolina, so after everything his brother moved back to Ohio with his parents and he lived right down the street from us. If my family or myself wanted to buy a simple gallon of milk we would have to risk seeing him face to face. And we did several times over the past 9 years. Recently her husband got out of prison and did the same, he moved back to Ohio and he now lives right down the street from my parents home. So as you can probably imagine, my family and I have struggled for 9 years to cope with the loss of my sister and having her killers live right around the corner doesn't make it easier. Especially when Justice was never served but a plea deal was (and a lot of covering up)... In conclusion, I have worn my sisters hair tie on my wrist for 9 years, never once taking it off, until it snapped and I had to tie it back together everytime. Well I think it's reached its last strand. So I decided to retire it as I hire a new piece that allows me to remember when I'm reliving that night, hearing my mother scream that my sister is gone, that she is Gone But Never Forgotten. I hope my story shows that no matter how hard a situation may be...there will always be light on the other side...you just have to keep pushing.