As the names of crime victims from around Gwinnett County flashed on a screen during the annual Crime Victims Candlelight Vigil at 12Stone Church in Duluth on Thursday night, Deborah Free began to choke up and leaned on Renee Haygood’s shoulder for support.
Free’s daughter, Rachel, was a was a victim of domestic violence, killed in a murder-suicide in Lawrenceville in early October. The loss is still fresh for the family, which is preparing to mark its first Christmas without Rachel.
But, the Free family found kinship at the vigil, which the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office holds each year to let the families of crime victims know they and their loved ones have not been forgotten. Haygood, the shoulder Free leaned on as she cried, is a community outreach specialist with the DA’s Office…