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Thread: Gus Benett, China Barber killed by Robert Sprinkle

  1. #1
    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Gus Benett, China Barber killed by Robert Sprinkle

    http://www.cafemom.com/articles/in_t...&utm_content=0

    A triple murder is being linked to that most troublesome of all Facebook features: The relationship status bar. A 23-year-old man reportedly gunned down his estranged wife, her new boyfriend, and then himself after the new man changed his profile status to "In a Relationship" and gushed, "She's beautiful!" about the man's wife.
    China Barber and Robert Sprinkle had been together since high school. While still in their early 20s, they got married last year. But within six months, they were separated. At some point, China began seeing Robert's friend, Gus Bennett.

    On December, 10, Gus changed his Facebook status to "In a Relationship" and wrote, "Her name is China and she is beautiful." His friends began congratulating him, writing things like, "Congrats, bro, Facebook official!"

    It's the last update Gus ever wrote. It was also the only one that mentioned China.

    For that one post, Gus and China may have died. Robert Sprinkle reportedly went to China's home near the University of South Alabama in Mobile and opened fire, killing both her and his former friend. He then turned the gun on himself.

    China Barber had overcome incredible odds to get to college -- she came from a family who lived in dire poverty and had seen incredible hardship, including having Hurricane Katrina wipe out the tent the entire family lived in. She is the fourth member of her six siblings to die -- three of her brothers also died, two in car accidents, and one of a rare disease.

    More From The Stir: 4-Year-Old Girl?s Murder Finally Solved Thanks to Facebook

    It seems brutally unfair that China would have to die like this. And Gus, whose Facebook page and friends show him to be a sweet, hard-working young man, didn't deserve it either.

    Robert Sprinkle was no doubt hurt by his marriage's failure, but he was 23. He had so much left of life. And so did China and Gus. This is all terribly tragic.
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    Senior Member animosity's Avatar
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    Promising college student and her new boyfriend are gunned down by her estranged husband after they made their relationship 'Facebook official'

    China Barber, 20, and boyfriend Gus Bennett were gunned down at her apartment complex by China's estranged husband Robert Sprinkle

    Sprinkle had been friends with Bennett and had been with China for years before they married last December

    The couple split in May

    China grew up in abject poverty but graduated from high school with honors and attended college on scholarship

    Bennett posted their relationship on Facebook three days before he and China were murdered

    By MICHAEL ZENNIE

    PUBLISHED: 02:13 EST, 12 December 2013 | UPDATED: 05:35 EST, 12 December 2013

    A promising Alabama college student and her new boyfriend were gunned down by her estranged husband just three days after they made their relationship 'Facebook official.'

    Police say Robert 'BJ' Sprinkle, 23, shot dead China Barber, 20, and boyfriend Gus Bennett after he showed up at her apartment near the University of South Alabama in Mobile about 4.30am on Tuesday. He then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

    China overcame incredible tragedy - including the deaths of three of her brothers - and abject poverty to attend college for creative writing. Friends mourned her as an energetic, caring person who was a promising writer who had already won a scholarship for her poetry.

    Her new boyfriend, Bennett, was described as a driven and caring college student who helped teach computer skills to his co-workers at a local convenience store.


    Tragic: Augustus 'Gus' Bennett and his new girlfriend China Barber, 20, were killed by China's estranged husband - who was also Bennett's friend


    Robert 'BJ' Sprinkle, 23, killed himself after shooting dead his estranged wife and her new boyfriend at her apartment on Tuesday

    Family members say Bennett and Sprinkle were friends before China tore them apart.

    The Mobile Press-Register reports that China is the fourth of six children in her family to die. Her brothers Ben and Tyler were killed in separate car crashes and her brother Kevin died suddenly from a health defect.

    As a child, her family was so poor, that she spent time living in a trailer crammed with 12 family members. Later, when the trailer burned down, she and her family were forced to live in a tent and take cold showers at her grandmother's house.

    Then, Hurricane Katrina hit and the family's fortunes turned even worse.

    But she persevered. She graduated with honors on high school.


    The couple were killed just three days after Gus Bennett made his relationship with China 'Facebook official'


    China Barber grew up in abject poverty and experienced incredible tragedy. Three of her brothers died before her. But she persevered and graduated high school with honors and attended college on a scholarship

    In a 2011 profile in the Press Register, she said: 'I know how it is to feel like you're completely helpless, when all you want to do is scream and cry and give up. But you can't, because, although life seems more horrible than you ever imagined, it will get better.'

    A family friend said China Barber and Sprinkle married last December after dating for several years - including in high school.

    There was no wedding or ceremony and China later privately told friends that she regretted getting married so quickly and without thinking it through.

    The couple separated in May.

    On Saturday, Bennett posted to his Facebook page that he was 'in a relationship.'

    'Her name is China and she is beautiful,' he wrote to a friend on Facebook.

    Elyse Bennett, Gus's sister-in-law, said in a statement to WALA-TV: 'This was the best time in his life, he was so in love with China and she loved him back. This was his beginning; it shouldn’t have been his ending.'



    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2nyNbzpVT
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    RIP gus and china.
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    Senior Member debk589's Avatar
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    Sprinkle has a serious case of crazy eyes.

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    That is so sad about her family; such heartache.

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    Senior Member animosity's Avatar
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    deb: she definitely traded up.
    Quote Originally Posted by songbirdsong View Post
    "Say, you know who could handle this penis? MY MOTHER."

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    There are so many DEPRESSING HEARTBREAKING HORRIBLE stories this week. It's hard to work out which rank higher on the "Totally Fucked Up" scale. Even the weird & bizarre thread made me cry this week. This story is so sad because for all her hard work & optimism life didn't get better, it got crueler.

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