Posted: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:01 AM - 7,652 Readers
By: Patrick George, Isadora Vail
At the funeral Mass for slain University of Texas graduates Stacy Barnett and John Goosey, the priest implored mourners not to let the tragedy eclipse the rest of their lives.
"What can we speak in the face of the unspeakable?" Monsignor Bill Young said at Monday morning's Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Southwest Houston.
Young said the deaths were a "circumstance without rhyme or reason" but told the approximately 200 friends and family members gathered not to "let the tragedy become bigger than life itself."
"That means don't give in to the tragedy," Young said. "Don't let this moment of darkness shadow the brightness tomorrow might bring."
New details emerged Monday about the killings of Barnett, 22, and Goosey, 21, who were shot to death in their West Campus condominium July 21.
An Austin police arrest affidavit said that James Richard "Ricky" Thompson, 19, who has been charged with two counts of capital murder, owed Goosey more than $7,000 for marijuana.
Police say Goosey was a midlevel marijuana supplier in Austin and was killed because of the debt. Goosey had no arrest record in Travis County or in Houston. Police have said Barnett might not have known about her boyfriend's marijuana dealings.
Thompson was arrested Friday at a home on Alexandria Drive, near Brodie Lane and West William Cannon Drive in South Austin, officials said.
Roy and Perry Minton's Austin law firm will defend Thompson, Perry Minton said Monday.
Thompson had hired Perry Minton, Roy Minton's son, to defend him in a misdemeanor theft case. Thompson is accused of stealing between $500 and $1,500 worth of liquor from a Lakeway country club in May 2008, Perry Minton said.
Minton said he had spoken with Thompson since his arrest Saturday. Minton had no comment on any of the charges.
"This is an absolute tragedy for everyone involved," the lawyer said. "Our hearts go out to the families that are burying their children. Everybody is sad about that. As this develops more, we'll talk to Ricky about it."
No hearing date has been set, Minton said.
According to the police affidavit, Goosey complained to friends about a "kid" who owed him money at a dinner the night before the slayings.
One friend told police that he had spent that night in the couple's apartment and left the next morning about 9:50 a.m. because he knew "the kid" was coming over to pay Goosey, the affidavit says.
Goosey had told his friend that he had fronted "the kid" a pound of marijuana on several occasions, the affidavit says.
The document also says Thompson had asked a friend to give him a ride to his marijuana supplier's home to make a drug deal.
Thompson was dropped off near San Gabriel and 24th streets and walked to Barnett and Goosey's condo on West 21st Street, according to the document.
Police say Goosey and Barnett were killed shortly thereafter, between 10 and 10:15 a.m. Thompson called his friend to pick him up about 15 minutes after entering the home, the affidavit says.
While later watching a TV news story about the killings, Thompson told another friend that he was responsible for the deaths, the affidavit says. Thompson told the friend that he smashed Goosey's and Barnett's cell phones so police could not find his number and looked for bullet casings before he left their home.
However, police were able to track Thompson's cell phone calls to Goosey and found some calls that were made from near the condominium, including one at 10:12 a.m. to the friend who had given him a ride, the affidavit says.
Thompson attended Lake Travis High School from October 2006 until he dropped out in February 2008, according to Lake Travis district officials.
At Monday's funeral Mass, where Barnett's and Goosey's families were seated on opposite sides of the church, Young described them as two people who wanted to help the world.
Barnett would grow her hair long, cut it and donate the hair to Locks of Love, which provides hairpieces to sick children, he said.
Goosey was gearing up for next year's MS 150, an annual bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis, Young said.
The families thought the couple would be married in the near future, and the two were buried side by side Monday.
Young said an "evil entered their lives" and stole away their future. However, he said that neither of them would want their loved ones to hang on to their grief over the slayings.
"Maybe some of us today are holding a grudge. Today is the day to let it go," Young said.
Barnett's friend Taylor De La Torre read a poem Barnett once wrote, in which she described herself as "a child of fairies who chooses to wonder rather than think."
"Stacy was always beautiful with her words," her friend said. "A positive energy always radiated around Stacy wherever she went."
Harrison Harrell, Goosey's friend, said that Goosey — called Johnny by those who knew him — "was a one-word response for your plans for the evening, or why you couldn't wipe a smile off your face."
