Ceremony honors victims of violence in Merced County

The two sisters died together May 30, 2014, killed by the husband of one of the women. Today, their niece, Ashley Cox, still does not know why he ended their lives.

Ronda Cupit and Lisa Dennis were victims of domestic violence. Cupit’s husband fled the scene but was found by Merced County sheriff’s deputies. A police officer shot and killed Cupit’s husband when he pulled a gun on the officer.

Cox and Jeannie Dennis, a sister of Cupit and Dennis, attended the Victim’s Rights Ceremony on Thursday afternoon with their family in Courthouse Park. Cox said she will never find closure, but the ceremony helps her family unite to remember her aunts.

“I know I’ll come every year because I feel like I should be here, just to be their voice,” Dennis said.

Dennis said she talked to Cupit’s husband the day before the murders and said she never imagined the violence was coming. By attending the ceremony, she said, she hopes to help others realize that domestic violence can happen to anybody, whether or not there are warning signs.

“Although they are no longer here with us, they’re still in our presence,” Lisa DeSantis, the Victim Witness program coordinator, said in her welcoming speech.

Pastor Bill Ruth of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Livingston led a prayer and encouraged those gathered to shake hands with someone they didn’t know to spread peace.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Carroll thanked the police officers and chiefs from Merced, Livingston, Atwater and Los Banos for coming out to support victims of violent crimes. Carroll said while there is nothing he could say to erase the injustice that has happened to families, he will be among the authorities who will continue to prosecute anyone who commits a crime.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ to all the victims for their courage,” Carroll said.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke spoke to the victims’ families about his efforts over the past 37 years to bring criminals to justice. He said those whose lives have been lost should never be forgotten and that survivors and their families should know that there is support for them.

“We’re in this together, and anything you need us to do, just ask,” Warnke said.

Ruth ended the ceremony with a closing prayer, encouraging families to live with strength, hope and to care for one another. Families participated in the tradition of tying remembrance cards on the “Victim Tree,” a redwood tree planted in remembrance of victims who suffered violent crimes.

Louis Maclachlan brought a picture and tied a remembrance card for his younger brother, Phillip Maclachlan, who suffered a gang-related stabbing when he was 14 years old on Nov. 7, 1999.

“Things changed in everyone’s life because of that, and it tore my mom apart,” Maclachlan said.

The stabbing occurred at a liquor store on Ninth Street by another 14-year-old. The assailant was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Maclachlan said he has been coming to the ceremony for seven or eight years, especially since the death of his mother.

“The tree stands as a symbol of God’s presence,” said Ruth.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Ceremony honors victims of violence in Merced County."