>> NO WORD TONIGHT ON ANY ARRESTS AS WELL. FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD THIS MORNING AT NEW HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH FOR THE WELCH FAMILY. THE THREE WOMEN WHO WERE KILLED A FEW WEEKS AGO BY A FAMILY MEMBER. >> 16 WAPT’S KENNEDY COOPER SPOKE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY ABOUT HOW THEY ARE HONORING THE LIVES OF THEIR LOVED ONES. OUR OBJECTIVE OR OUR GOAL IS TO SIMPLY MAKE IT TO THE OTHER SIDE. >> THURSDAY MORNING, WE WITNESSED A MOVING HOMEGOING SERVICE FOR IDA THOMAS. WELCH AND HER TWO DAUGHTERS, CRYSTAL AND VICKI WELCH, SURVIVED BY THE LAST SIBLING, KIM WELCH. THE THREE WOMEN WERE FOUND SHOT TO DEATH AT THE MOTHER’S HOME IN RIDGELAND MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND. POLICE IDENTIFIED THE GUNMAN AS IVORY JAMES WELCH, THE THIRD. HE WAS KILLED A FEW DAYS LATER IN A SHOOTOUT WITH ARIZONA HIGHWAY PATROL. THROUGH TRAGEDY, FAMILY AND FRIENDS BONDED TOGETHER TO HONOR AND CELEBRATE THE LIVES OF THE THREE WOMEN I’VE KNOWN. >> CRYSTAL SINCE SHE WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL. SHE’S AN EPITOME OF A WONDERFUL PERSON. HER LEGACY WILL DEFINITELY LIVE ON, AND I’M JUST SO PROUD OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT SHE HAS BEEN ABLE TO AFFORD THROUGH LIFE. >> CRYSTAL WELCH, THE YOUNGEST SISTER, WAS BOARD PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MISSISSIPPI AND AN ATTORNEY WHO WORKED AS A PROFESSOR AT MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE SCHOOL OF LAW. >> JESUS PERSONALLY ESCORTED HIM TO THE OTHER SIDE. OH MY SISTER LORD, HOW I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU. >> THE REACTION ON THEIR FACE. >> PASTOR WILLIE TOBIAS JUNIOR WITH A POWERFUL MESSAGE FOR THE FAMILY IN MOURNING. >> I BELIEVE HE TOLD SISTER CRYSTAL’S SISTER II AND SISTER DAVID, PRAY ALL THE. YOU’VE BEEN FAITHFUL IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI. >> AS THE SERVICE ENDED, THE FAMILY CONCLUDED THEIR FINAL THOUGHTS TO THEIR LOVED ONES, SAYING IT’S NOT GOODBYE OR SEE YOU LATER, BUT I HOPE YOU SAVE ME A SEAT ON THE OTHER SIDE IN JACKSON.
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Family, friends, colleagues pay their respects to 3 women killed, allegedly by family member
Woman holds back tears as she talks about suddenly losing her entire family
Kennedi Cooper
Reporter
Family, friends and colleagues are paying their respects to three women killed earlier this month by a family member. The funeral for Crystal Welch, 42, Vicky Welch, 56, and their mother, 76-year-old Ida Thomas Welch was held Thursday morning at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson. The women were found shot to death on Mother’s Day inside a Ridgeland home. The suspect, Ivory James Welch III, was the son of Ida and brother of Crystal and Vicky. He was killed days later in a shootout with state troopers in Arizona after he fled Mississippi following the shooting. Crystal Welch was board president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi and an attorney who worked as a professor at Mississippi College School of Law. Among the mourners visiting the funeral home Wednesday were two women who work for the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services. They said Crystal Welch was instrumental in helping place several kids in foster homes. The last surviving sibling, Kim Welch, struggled to hold back tears during the visitation Wednesday at Westhaven Funeral Home as she talked about suddenly losing her entire family. She said even though Crystal was the youngest, she was the glue that held the family together. She said they always did things together and talked every day. "They have all left. Nobody is here, and I miss them," Kim Welch said. "God give me strength every single day."Kim Welch said her family did everything they could to get help for her brother as he struggled with drug addiction and mental health problems. "No one ever imagined he would do this. No one ever — not ever," she said. "He was not supposed to have guns, so nobody would ever imagine he could have taken a gun to do anything."The women will be laid to rest following a Thursday morning funeral at New Hope Baptist Church.
JACKSON, Miss. —
Family, friends and colleagues are paying their respects to three women killed earlier this month by a family member.
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The funeral for Crystal Welch, 42, Vicky Welch, 56, and their mother, 76-year-old Ida Thomas Welch was held Thursday morning at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson. The women were found shot to death on Mother’s Day inside a Ridgeland home.
The suspect, Ivory James Welch III, was the son of Ida and brother of Crystal and Vicky. He was killed days later in a shootout with state troopers in Arizona after he fled Mississippi following the shooting.
Man suspected of killing his mother, sisters in Ridgeland is dead after gunfight with Arizona troopers
Crystal Welch was board president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi and an attorney who worked as a professor at Mississippi College School of Law. Among the mourners visiting the funeral home Wednesday were two women who work for the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services. They said Crystal Welch was instrumental in helping place several kids in foster homes.
The last surviving sibling, Kim Welch, struggled to hold back tears during the visitation Wednesday at Westhaven Funeral Home as she talked about suddenly losing her entire family. She said even though Crystal was the youngest, she was the glue that held the family together. She said they always did things together and talked every day.
"They have all left. Nobody is here, and I miss them," Kim Welch said. "God give me strength every single day."
Kim Welch said her family did everything they could to get help for her brother as he struggled with drug addiction and mental health problems.
"No one ever imagined he would do this. No one ever — not ever," she said. "He was not supposed to have guns, so nobody would ever imagine he could have taken a gun to do anything."
The women will be laid to rest following a Thursday morning funeral at New Hope Baptist Church.
