Fifteen-year-old Beautiful Austin-Bennett was in complete shock when she learned her mother had been killed earlier this month, and an overwhelming feeling of dread overcame her because the two hadn’t been on good terms.
The teenager has taken the lead on planning her mother’s funeral, not because she has to but because she wants to. It’s her way of coping and making amends with her mother after they didn’t get to resolve a big argument before her life was cut short.
Dorian “Sky” Bennett was driving along I-285 near Lavista Road on May 3 when someone inside her vehicle opened fire, killing her, DeKalb County police have said. Officers who arrived at the scene found her already dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Oddly, the vehicle was still in drive.
Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the shooting or said if they’ve identified a suspect in the case. Family members said authorities told them that her husband, from whom she had been separated, is not considered a suspect.
Bennett was a mother of four — two boys and two girls, ages 17, 15, 12 and 10 — and was a kind, loving and beautiful soul both inside and out, her loved ones said. The 36-year-old also had a spunky side, which she shared with Beautiful, her oldest daughter. While the two were extremely close, they also bumped heads often because they were so much alike.
“She’s like this loud, fun person but got a feisty side, and I’m like the same way,” Beautiful said.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
They hurt each other’s feelings during that argument and didn’t speak for some time, Beautiful said. But they did have one phone call during which Bennett did most of the talking, letting Beautiful know she loved her.
“Even if I wasn’t responding ... I’m just glad she was able to get those words out and she knew that I was taking it in,” Beautiful said.
Now, “since I can’t physically, or like to her face tell her I apologize for holding grudges or she can’t apologize to me, I feel like helping plan her funeral or letting her go out the right way is my way of apologizing.”
Letting others know she loved them was something Bennett did regularly. She touched so many lives, her brother-in-law Dre Austin said, that his phone constantly rang when news of her death began to spread.
“I was like, ‘How did she have all this time to be in all these places and be with all these people?’ That’s who she was,” he said. “She saw the good in people. She had so much compassion for everybody.”
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
Growing up in the foster care system, Bennett had her hardships. She had recently gone to an in-patient program in the Washington, D.C., area to address past mental and emotional traumas so she could better herself and be more present for her children.
Her best friend, Toi Jones, said Bennett had just returned to Atlanta at the end of March and was so proud of the progress she had made. In fact, the Sunday before she was killed, Bennett told Jones she was the happiest she’d been in her life because it was finally something she was doing for herself.
“She was on her way to go get herself together … she was starting her victory lap,” Austin said.
That resilient spirit is what’s inspiring her children to carry on and accomplish things they know would make their mother proud.
“I want people to know that it’s hurting me and my siblings, but it’s also pushing us forward to do better,” Beautiful said.
For the time being, Jones and the rest of the family have been staying busy making sure Bennett’s affairs are in order and being there for her children, who are staying with Austin.
But he knows they have to brace for the more quiet grief that comes later.
“I have to think about what I’m going to do moving forward when all the smoke clears and the noise calms down. That’s when (the children’s) grieving is going to really start,” he said.
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