Gasps were followed by cheers and shouts of “Amen!”
Earlier in the service, Ashcraft talked about her daughter Deb Neeley's former boyfriend, Sammy Littleton II, who was wanted in Brown’s murder and in the disappearance of Richard and Gladis Russell of Bellefontaine.
“The Sammy we know didn’t do this,” Ashcraft said. “The devil made him do it.”
She urged the 750 mourners to remain calm and not to take justice into their own hands: “Put away your hatred and leave it in the hands of God and the law. If you do something to him, that’s not justice.”
Ashcraft closed her remarks by saying, “I love you, Tiffy, and we’ll meet again.”
Brown’s sister, Heather Engle, said Brown was the “first person who broke my nose, the first person I told everything to, the first person I told I was pregnant. Whatever her boys need, I’m going to be there for them.”
The Rev. Rob Kilgore, who is the brother-in-law of Brown’s father Larry, eulogized the 26-year-old mother of two as a woman with a “bubbly personality” and “infectious zest for life.”
Kilgore said that her sons, Gage and Gavyn, are happy-go-lucky boys. As 1,500 mourners came through the First Church of God for the visitation Tuesday night, he said, “the boys laughed and played and watched 'Toy Story.' And they could do that because she was a mother who laughed much and played much. It’s because of who she was as a mother that those two boys are so happy.”
Kilgore acknowledged bluntly that “this sucks. Death has taken a loved one —a mother, daughter, sister, niece. But death can’t quench the fires of love. Share that love, and she will never be far away.”
After the service, family members thanked Plogger for a “beautiful service” and marveled at Littleton’s capture.
“The timing couldn’t have been better,” said one woman. “Prayers were answered.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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