Simpson Family Prayer Vigil Draws Hundreds

The Dacusville community turned out in force Thursday afternoon “to express our heartfelt sympathy for the death of two beloved children, our concerns for a critically-wounded and for the soul of a broken mother,” said the Rev. Ashley McCoy-Bruce.

The crowd gathered in front of Dacusville Elementary School to lift up in prayer and remember Carly and Sawyer Simpson, who were murdered on Tuesday, and their father Michael Simpson, who is hospitalized with critical injuries.

Suzanna Brown Simpson, the children's mother and Michael's wife has been charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and a weapons charge. She will be transported to the Pickens County Detention Center when she is released from the hospital.

“We are here tonight because Dacusville, the Simpson and Brown families, Dacusville Elementary and Pickens County has suffered a tremendous loss that has altered our lives in ways that we have yet to fully understand,” said McCoy-Bruce, who presided over the prayer vigil. “This is what a community does -we rally together in the worst of times, the most difficult times. And this is the most difficult of times.”

She thanked the first responders, the police, the EMS, the firemen and firewomen, and all of those who have worked through this event to “bring about closure and to start the process of healing and peace.”

DES principal Dr. Michael Fleming and teachers Nancy Zeigler, Jama Freeman and Cynthia Galloway lit memorial candles for Carly and Sawyer, who both attended Dacusville Elementary.

“The candles on this table represent the life and life of Carly and Sawyer Simpson,” McCoy-Bruce said.

When the candles were lit, moments of silence were held for the two children.

“We are here tonight to pray for our precious Sawyer and Carly and for their families as they face the days ahead,” Fleming said. “And we're here to celebrate their all too short lives here at Dacusville Elementary.”

Zeigler, who taught Carly, said she wished she could “wake up from this nightmare.”

“The kids that we lost this week were special because they were all kids,” she said. “They were as every child here tonight and every child in this community. Carly was my students – and my students are my kids.”

Anna Simpson was one of Zeigler's room parents.

“My students knew her to be loving and kind,” Zeigler said. “She loved them and they loved her. It is incomprehensible to me and my students why Carly and Sawyer had to die this way.

Her education prepared her for the classroom in many ways, she said.

“But there was a never a course, a professor or a textbook that taught me how to help my students get over the death of a friend, let alone a friend who died this way,” Zeigler said.

She and her students are figuring it out as they go along, looking for a “new kind of normal,” she said.

“I take cues from there and I'm learning along with them,” Zeigler said. “In Room B166, we're hugging a lot more often. We're telling each other 'I love you' a lot more often. And we're helping each other get through this.”

Her students have brought flowers and trinkets to place at Carly's seat.

Carly's jacket is in her cubby and her nameplate is at her table, “and for the rest of the year those things will stay there,” Zeigler said.

“Because Carly is still part of us,” she said. “We'll miss Carly forever but by the grace of God, it will get easier. Thank you so much for the support you've shown us.”

Amy Skipper spoke on behalf of Sawyer's teachers Freeman and Galloway and their class and read a piece about Sawyer called “Always.”

“He was always excited and ready to learn,” Skipper read. “He always did his personal best. He always loved his friends and his family. He always made us laugh. He always had the most beautiful smile that made everyone happy. We love you Sawyer and we will always miss you.”

McCoy-Bruce said the tragedy leaves the community with questions.

“Why did this happen, this horrible thing in our community? Why did Carly and Sawyer have to die? Why is their daddy struggling for his life?” she said. “I can't give you a satisfying answer to the question of 'Why.' I can offer you hope, that God cares. Tell your worries to Jesus and he will care for you. We can overcome evil with goodness.”

She told the children at the vigil “you are safe and you are loved.”

“All of these people gathered here, they love you,” McCoy-Bruce said. “They are your community. They are here for you. We are working and doing all within our power to help you with your sadness and to share your sadness and your pain and your loss. We love you.”

Children laid flowers for Carly and Sawyer at the flagpole in front of the school “in honor of our dear sweet friends.” Memorial candles were lit and held high.

Clergy members were available after the ceremony to assist the community with their grief.

“What has happened has hurt us to the core,” McCoy-Bruce said. “We are sad. We are mad. We feel guilty. We feel scared. And God is holding us right now. And God will make us strong for each other.”