Stolen Lives

Her son and daughter were both fatally shot at the Gila River Indian Community. Now Odelia Jose spends her days raising her three grandchildren alone and fighting for justice for the children she lost

-  TRISTAN BALAGTAS

A cross draped with an Arizona Cardinals scarf ("He was a big fan," says Odelia) marks the spot where Jerome's body was found; Odelia prays on the anniversary of his death last year.

Odelia Jose saves her tears for the shower. "That's my time for crying, because nobody can see me," she says. But after tucking in her 4-month-old great-grandaughter for a nap on the living room sofa, she settles into an armchair, preparing to share her family's tragic story and then begins to sob quietly. Within hours, her loved ones will gather here, at her house in Sacaton, Ariz., at the Gila River Indian Community, to mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of her 34-year-old son Jerome James, whose body was found buried under rocks in a remote mountain ravine on the reservation in 2018. His brutal death came just four years after the fatal shooting of her oldest daughter, Gwendolyn James, 26. And the violent loss of both siblings had a profound effect on Odelia's only surviving child, Ashley, now 25, who, Odelia says, coped with the murders with drugs. Now Odelia, who is a grandmother and a great-grandmother, is raising three of Ashley's children on her own. At 58, she's a mom all over again, this time to Jeromy, 2, Kendrick, 3, and Kaydence Kisto, 4, and "I'm changing diapers, bathing them and keeping them fed,” she says. And trying to keep them safe amid the violence and fear that remain on the reservation. I often wonder why my kids were taken so suddenly,” she says as tears stream down her face. They had their own lives, they had families, their own kids. I know I’m not supposed to question God, but I just wonder, Why my family?’”

Amemorial wall dedicated to Jerome and Gwen James inside Odelia Jose’s house. They both had their special way with me,” she says.