Kelly Hunnewell’s death an unjust end for her rich and fulfilling life
If you’ve been reading the state or local papers this past week you may have heard about a murder of a woman at a bakery off Beltline Boulevard. Monday, there was a press conference to break the news that three men had been arrested for the murder of Kelly Hunnewell.But seeing as how two of the criminals were 18 and one only 16 it seems wrong to call them men, especially after what an act of impulsive, reckless violence they committed.
I worked with Kelly for the last year and a half at the Carolina Café. When we heard the news last Monday that she had been shot, and then later in the day when it was confirmed she was dead, we were all in shock.
Kelly was a mother of four children and worked hard to provide for them. She was a loving mom, hard working coworker and all around kind woman. There seemed no possible motive in my mind when I heard. This had to be random and we found out yesterday that it was.
The police believe Troy Stevenson, Lorenzo Young and the unnamed 16-year-old were out early that morning to rob the club next to the bakery. The club was closed, so the boys went next door to see what they could steal. There wasn’t any money there, and because Kelly fought back to try to save her life, they took that instead.
All three were charged with murder, kidnapping, attempted armed robbery and various other crimes and will be charged as adults.
Their defense will probably focus on the lack of care taken in raising the boys and how this should ease the weight of their sentence if they are found guilty.
While it could be true that they weren’t loved enough to keep them out of a life of crime, there is a sick irony to that because the path they chose ended with taking a mother’s love from her children. This measure of reality should be enough to put them away for the maximum sentence of each crime.
This space is reserved for op-ed pieces and not necessarily news, however I wanted to be able to share Kelly’s story from a more human place than the news stories are able to. When her name appears in the news there’s a picture of her and the facts, but what they can’t talk about is what a strong protective woman she was or how much she has affected the lives she touched.
They don’t know how she made amazing chocolate chip cookies, or loved butterflies or worked a shift baking at four in the morning so that she could be with her kids during the day.
Since she was such a provider for others, people are now pulling together to provide for her kids. A fund is being set up for them and a date will be set at the Carolina Café where the money made will go to them.