With a heavy sigh, Don Riddle spoke with a heavy heart about the life and loss of his daughter, 30-year-old Cassie Riddle.
“Of all the things I know how to do in my life, I don't know how to bury my child,” Riddle said.
A loving mother of two to 11-year-old Luke and 8-year-old Gabriel, she was one of six siblings and a student at Texas A&M Commerce about to earn her degree in biology.
Riddle said she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.
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A runner in high school in her home state of Arkansas, Cassie, he said, moved to Texas so her youngest son with special needs could receive better treatment.
Despite their distance, Riddle said, she remained close.
“We spent the weekend with each other last weekend,” he said, holding back tears.
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This week, Cassie was identified as the victim in a deadly shooting incident in Wylie.
Riddle said Cassie had been in a relationship with Shawn Myers, the man police describe as the suspect in the incident, but had ended the relationship earlier this year.
“Prayers need to be for everyone,” Riddle said.
When he arrived in North Texas from his home in Texarkana, Riddle said he showed a recent photo of Cassie to an officer who responded to the scene.
“I said this is the picture of who my daughter is. Not who they saw, because they're seeing her at her worst day and I wanted to make sure they knew there's someone else,” Riddle said.
Wylie police said the case is being investigated as a murder and have requested the Texas Rangers conduct an independent investigation.
Riddle said he wants people to remember his daughter for the life she lived, not how she died.
"She's more than just one incident, there's an entire life," he said.
