THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507020062
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TUCKER, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
More than 600 miles from where she struggled and died at the hands of strangers, Jennifer Lea Evans was laid to rest on Saturday.
In the shadow of Stone Mountain, where she worked for three summers, and across from the high school where she was a cheerleader, Evans' family and friends gathered to say goodbye.
``Of course I cannot tell you why Jennifer was killed,'' said The Rev. Greg George, speaking to more than 100 mourners in First Baptist Church. ``I have asked myself a hundred times, a thousand times, a million times. All you can accept is that God is still in control and He is a loving God, and He will provide the grace to deal with this tragedy.''
From a piano behind the turquoise casket came a melody of hope: ``Circle of Life,'' from ``The Lion King.'' Disney characters were Evans' passion.
It's the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
'Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life.
``The meaning is summed up as love of life,'' said Joey Hancock, a pastor and longtime family friend. ``And that is exactly where you find Jennifer Evans. We are here in a celebration of the tremendous life Jennifer has lived.''
Evans vanished from an Oceanfront-area nightclub June 19 after she met a Navy SEAL trainee. Her body was found in a wooded area of Newport News Park last week.
The men accused in Evans' slaying - SEAL trainees Billy Joe Brown Jr., 23, of Dayton, Ohio, and Dustin Allen Turner, 20, of Bloomington, Ind. - are scheduled for bond hearings Wednesday.
Evans had faith in people, Hancock said. That faith proved fatal.
``Jennifer always had a tremendous amount of trust in people,'' Hancock said. ``She should have been able to trust those two men, the accused.''
The residents of this small town, on the outskirts of sprawling Atlanta are heartbroken, Hancock said. Nightly they watched and read news reports from Virginia Beach and prayed for good news. It never came.
``Please be very careful in the world in which you live,'' George told the young mourners. ``Please don't have the attitude that, `It can't happen to me.' Please don't imagine everyone is as nice as you are.''
For Evans' friends, coping has been difficult.
``I'll remember her laughing and giggling and the way she always pulled us together,'' said Stephanie Walker, 21, who grew up with Evans.
Evans and Walker were on the high school gymnastics team together, until back surgery sidelined Evans. ``She was always there when you needed a friend. That's why this has made me so angry; that someone could do something so bad to someone so good.''
Evans never gave up on gymnastics, although the surgery took her out of competition. She, instead, taught younger students.
``Some of you out there have a much better cartwheel because of her,'' Hancock said. ``You be assured that she is teaching the angels cartwheels, and using her wings for a lap around heaven.''
Six young men in dark suits wearing white carnations and sad expressions loaded the casket into the hearse for a long ride to Fitzgerald, Ga., the small town in the state's south where Evans parents' grew up. There, Al and Delores Evans buried their only child.
Hancock told her parents to feel blessed, and not cheated. ``God so loved the world that He lost a child, too,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Al Evans, father of slain Emory University student Jennifer Evans,
is comforted at his daughter's funeral Saturday in Tucker, Ga.
``Please be very careful in the world in which you live,'' the Rev.
GregGeorge said.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Al and Delores Evans, right, watch as the casket containing the body
of their only daughter Jennifer Lea Evans is put into the hearse
after the funeral. ``I'll remember her laughing and giggling and the
way she always pulled us together,'' said Stephanie Walker, 21, who
grew up with Evans.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SEX CRIME ASSAULT ARREST by CNB