“She is a special lady. She really is,” she said of Ambrose.

Weston never thought about leaving Moultrie, her hometown, but these days she has to think twice when someone asks, she said.

“I thought Moultrie was safe. Might as well be in New York or wherever,” she said.

Shawanda Shealey and her little girl, 3-year-old Jaaden Walker, wore T-shirts to the ceremony in memory of two people now lost to the community. Shealey was friends with Jakira Strong, 21, shot in the head New Year’s Eve in northwest Moultrie, and Cegi Hall, 31, murdered in 2005 in a crowd of people at a popular after-hours spot.

Strong’s future was bright, she said. At age 21, he was majoring in business and had decided to go on to mortuary school and eventually work for his uncle, County Commissioner Luke Strong. Hall was a mother of five and a solid, contributing team member of Communities in Schools.

“It seems to me the same as the first day — starting all over again. I try to accept that he’s not going to be here anymore. ... I think he would want us to be strong for the simple reason he was a strong person. At the same time, he would know it would be hard, because he was an outgoing person and a lot of people are going to miss him for the things he did and the lives he touched,” she said. “It was like the first day. I started crying.”

Curtis Anthony Aldridge was charged with murder in the Strong case, and five other defendants were charged along with him for tampering with evidence. They allegedly tried to clean up the scene, police have said.

For all of his plans, Strong’s life was taken away senselessly, Shealey said, and too many people in this community are numb to crime and its fallout, especially on children.

“It’s my friend today, but tomorrow it could be your friend,” she said. “You never know whose family will be next. The crime rate is so high. To me, it’s so easy for someone to take a person’s life.”

In Hall’s case, Mack Trimble Jr. was sentenced to life plus 10 years for felony murder and associated charges.

“He took her away from her five kids. They gave him a chance to go back for another trial. That’s not fair. It’s like putting the family back there all over again, and that’s not right,” she said.

Earlier, a prosecutor and a lawman speaking in a small group were voicing their frustration regarding the difficulty in finding witnesses who will testify, especially in cases of murder. So many times, murder cases are built primarily on witness testimony. Shealey agreed. She said she was frustrated that witnesses to killings don’t come forward. During Trimble’s trial, relatively few witnesses testified, she said.

“I would take my chance at revenge than to let someone who doesn’t care about no one — because if you take somebody’s life, you don’t care — walk or get out on the street to take somebody else’s life,” she said.

Moultrie Technical College criminal justice students assisted the district attorney’s victim advocacy program in the organization of the event.