I Believe: Pappy’s Song for Crystal

On February 7, 2026, just two days before the third anniversary of Crystal’s death, our family gathered in Oak Grove, Louisiana, for a Celebration of Life in her honor.

But we weren't the only ones who came.

By that point, Crystal's story had reached far beyond Louisiana. Through social media, people from across the country had followed her story, learned who she was, listened to the questions surrounding her death, and watched as a sister's grief slowly became a fight for accountability.

And on that February day, twelve TikTok creators traveled from across the United States to be there with me and my family in person.

That is something I will never forget.

Many of these relationships began through a screen. They didn't grow up with Crystal. They didn't have decades of memories with her like we did. But they had come to care about her story—and, somewhere along the way, they came to care about us too.

And when the time came to honor Crystal, they didn't just send a message or watch from hundreds of miles away. They showed up.

In this video, Pappy sings Diamond Rio's “I Believe.” Surrounded by Crystal's family, friends, and people who had traveled from across the country to honor someone many of them never had the opportunity to meet, the song became one of those moments that captured what the entire day was really about.

Not records.

Not an investigation.

Not unanswered questions.

Crystal.

Three years after we lost her, people were still gathering because her life mattered.

For me, there is something incredibly powerful about that. Crystal never knew that her story would reach people across the country. She never knew that people who had never met her would someday travel hundreds of miles to Louisiana, hug her family, sit beside us, and help us celebrate her life.

What began as people following Crystal's story online became real friendships, real support, and real people standing beside us on one of the most meaningful days our family has shared since losing her.

As Pappy sang “I Believe,” I could look around that room and see both parts of Crystal's legacy: the people who loved her while she was here and the people who came to love her story after she was gone.

February 7, 2026 wasn't about trying to rewrite the ending of Crystal's story.

It was about making sure the ending never became all of her story.

And for that day, in Oak Grove, we simply celebrated Crystal.

Her life. Her memory. Her impact. And the extraordinary community of people who chose to show up and remember her with us.