Easter brings hope to family of triple homicide victims

Last year, when making preparations for Easter Sunday, Gloria Short bought a pink and green church dress for her 10-year-old granddaughter, Gianna.

And then, as was her custom, she cooked a scrumptious meal for her family.

“The dinner part was what she did every Easter,” said her daughter, Shameika Averett, while reflecting on the holiday spent with her loved ones a year ago. “It was almost like the New Year’s dinner where you make the black eyed peas and the collard greens. My mother was very traditional in that way, and she was an excellent cook. So we spent a lot of holidays at Mom’s because that’s where we ate.”

But this Easter will be different as Averett and other family members grapple with the deaths of Short, 54; Averett’s daughter, Gianna Lindsey; and Short’s 17-year-old son, Caleb, also Averett’s brother. The three were brutally murdered in Short’s Upatoi home on Jan. 4 in a triple homicide that rocked the Columbus community. Short’s husband, Robert Short Jr., discovered the bodies early that morning after working a late-night nursing shift at Northside Hospital.

Three teenagers — Jervarceay Tapley, 17, Raheam Gibson, 19, and Rufus Lanard Burks, 15 — have been arrested in connection with the deaths. Each has been charged with three counts of murder, two counts of auto theft and one count each of burglary and using a knife to commit a crime.

Tapley was a family friend who lived with Gloria Short’s brother, Robert Averett, who died of a heart attack Jan. 6 after hearing of his sister’s homicide.

Short’s husband, Robert Short, is now living in Albany, Ga., with his daughter, Lindsey Roberson, Averett said, and the family will gather there for Easter, making the best of the circumstances.

“We’re trying to focus on the newness of it because it’s so new,” she explained. “If we focus on how different it is, we won’t be able to enjoy the wonderful, wonderful holiday that Easter is. It’s one of the most significant holidays — especially for us in the phase of life that we’re in — to remember that Jesus died and he rose again. It reminds us that he is living. And this Easter is an opportunity to reflect on how good God is, on how his mercy endures forever, even through this horrible tragedy.”

Averett said the Easter story of Christ’s resurrection gives her a “ton of hope,” and she uses her experience to encourage others on Facebook, using the hashtag “StayAtTheThankYou.”

“Staying at the thank you is remembering that no matter what you deal with, what you go through, stay at the thank you, stay at the cross, still believe that God is good, and thank him anyway, despite what could happen, despite what could go on in your life,” she said, “because we don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. But if you stay at the thank you, that will bring you hope and it will encourage you for the upcoming battles that you might face.”

Averett, 36, spoke while sitting at a serenity garden on Front Avenue, the sun beaming from a blue sky. Sitting next to her was her fiancee, Johnny King, who was a stepfather to Gianna. Averett said the warm sunshine reminded her that there’s a God up above who gives her strength.

The interview took place a day after two black, granite monuments — each about 5-feet tall — were erected at Green Acres Cemetery on Schatulga Road. The first was erected on behalf of Robert Short in memory of his wife, son and granddaughter. The second was erected on behalf of Averett and King in Gianna’s memory.

Gianna’s monument was made possible by donations from Kingdom Metropolitan Worship Center, St. John AME in Fort Mitchell, AARP Columbus, friends and family, King said.

Additional burial plots have already been purchased for Averett and other family members to be buried next to their loved ones.

When asked what she thinks happens to people when they die, Averett paused, then proceeded thoughtfully.

“I wish I could say 110 percent what I believe happens,” she said. “I think in this kind of traumatic situation, you believe what you know that everyone kind of tells you, which are all good things. You know, they went to heaven, their spirit is in heaven. They weren’t in any pain. And I do believe that.

“I believe when someone dies, their spirit leaves their body and they’re resurrected to a peaceful place, and then they’re resurrected up to heaven,” she said. “I believe that my mother was a spirit, my daughter is a spirit. I believe that my brother is a spirit. I believe that they see me, that they push me every day to keep going.”

Gloria Short had given Gianna twin dolls for Christmas. One day, Averett searched frantically for one of the dolls and couldn’t find it. She feared Gianna may have had it with her during the Jan. 4 incident.

Then her 3-year-old nephew came to the house and said “Gigi has a buggy. Gigi has a buggy.” At first, the grown-ups didn’t understand what he was trying to say. But when Averett went upstairs to Gianna’s buggy, she found the doll for which she had been searching.

“It was almost like (Gianna) was saying, ‘Mommy here it is. Don’t worry about it. I didn’t have it with me.’”

But some days aren’t that comforting, Averett said, and the family has been on an emotional roller coaster ride ever since the homicides, and the subsequent arrests of the three suspects.

“Every day is different,” she said. “One day we’re terribly, terribly angry. God, we’re so angry. The next day, we’re okay. ‘They got them, good.’ Another day, we’re … ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.’ … There are so many up and downs, it’s even hard to describe it.”

There are emotional triggers such as watching other parents with their children, Averett and King said, and just going grocery shopping.

“Wal-Mart is hard because we went to Wal-Mart for the first time to like shop, and there’s an aisle where we’d get all Gianna’s morning snacks. … It’s a freezer aisle,” Averett said. “And we were both thinking the same exact thing. We were standing their thinking, ‘Dang, this is what Gigi would eat.’ You know, toaster strudels or something, you know, the waffles you put in the toaster in the morning.

“So Wal-Mart is challenging for us, you know, seeing the other families how our family would be. You reflect on how much you miss that from your own family. And that’s hard sometimes.”

King said sometimes he wants to reach out to those families and tell them not to take what they have for granted.

“Sometimes you see a couple with a child and you wonder do they realize that in a blink of an eye all that can change and one of them could be taken away?” he said. “And so you really want to cherish and appreciate it.”

“That’s what happened to us,” Averett added. “They were literally snatched away from us in the night. … I had just spent the whole day with my mom. I had just taken her to Church’s Chicken to get dinner. I had just vacuumed the carpet. I had just done my daughter’s hair. I had just kissed her on the cheek. I had just watched her walk back in the house from the garage. It literally was like here today gone tomorrow.”

Averett said she also struggles with the issue of forgiveness even in the context of her Christian faith, and she’s still a work in progress.

“I’m in no position to say that I forgive yet, I’m working on that in my heart,” she said. “I’m not trying to be God. I am trying to get to a place where the things that I do are pleasing to him, that I will find favor in his sight. … I’m amazed by his grace, and I’m completely strengthened by the comfort that I receive from God.”

Averett said she believes God extends his grace not only to her, but also those who killed her daughter, mother and brother. “They can go before him right now and say, ‘I did this or that, Lord, forgive me,’ and he will do that. He will cast it into the sea of forgetfulness. And that is how awesome our God is.”

Averett said she believes there’s a Prince of Darkness who tried to destroy her family, but they have gained victory through Christ.

She said the home at 3057 Bentley Drive was the family homestead, and it will always have a special place in her heart.

But she hasn’t been inside of the house since the murders because of the emotional toll.

One day in late January, she held a service on the property to chase away the demons and release the house back to God. Those who participated included local ministers, neighbors and close friends.

Averett stood outside, while the ministers went inside and blessed every room.

“We will never live there again, but there's a sweet spirit that now dwells there and throughout the neighborhood,” she posted on Facebook.

Now at Easter, Averett reflects on Easter egg hunts and other events that the family enjoyed at the house over the years, and it makes her smile.

“At Easter time, we don’t want to give any type of credit to darkness,” she said. “We want to take that time to remember that Jesus Christ, he bled and died for us on the cross, and he rose again on the third day. And because he lives, I can talk to you, I can talk to so many people in the community about how good God is, because I’ve been granted an opportunity to share my faith now with other people and encourage them.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Easter brings hope to family of triple homicide victims."