Alice Donovan, My mother who is sadly missed and deeply loved

written by: Angie Gilchrist, Alice's daughter

On November 14th 2002 my family got up that morning and did their normal routine in life..We all got ready for work and my mom Alice Donovan had the day off and was looking forward to her day of relaxation and rest before she had to start a new work week..

At noon mom decided to go to walmart to start her christmas shopping. She pulled in the Walmart parking lot at 2:39pm, parked in a parking spot but never made it into the store.She was ambushed by to young men with guns who forced her to drive away in her car with them..She spent three hours begging and pleading for her life. All her attempts to have her captives let her free failed..After raping her repeatedly and recieving a large chunk of money from her bank accounts they murdered her and left her body in a wooded area in Horry County South Carolina..

Both men were caught several days later and were put in to prision where they surely belonged. But they never told nor brought any law officials to the place where they discarded my mother..

Our family suffered the loss of my mother in different ways..It split our family apart into many different dynamics and the family fell apart. We sat through the trials of both of these men and heard the accounts of what they did to mom and the others over and over. We had to relive the nightmare over again and it seemed that no matter what we did to try to get on with our lives without her, we couldn't..She was still missing..Her body was out there somewhere. We could not except that. We were not at peace with that. For many years I often wondered if my mothers soul was at rest. Later I had to bring myself to believe that it did not matter where a person was placed in death, If they were going to spend their eternity with the higher power then their souls are at peace.
January 17th 2009 almost seven years later one of my mothers murderers decided to come forward and explain where they left my mother all these years with a map and pictures..A search was conducted and skeletal remains were found in that area he said she was..The memory gate lifted and my soul was flooded with all memories of my mother, good and bad and of the events that lead to her death..I relized on that day in January of 2009 standing on that dirt road as CSI came out of the field with brown bags which hopefully hold my mother, that I had been running and hiding from the truth..Not wanting to face the memories of my mother. The pain of losing her was so great and so painful that I thought it would be easier to forget her..And all I did was prolong the innevitable.

Now as I sit and wait for DNA to confirm that it is my mother's remains, my mind is flooded with thoughts of my mother. A woman with integrity, a woman with passion for life, a woman who saw the beauty in all things, a woman who loved like no other, a woman who I am honored to say is my mother.