Murder of young nurse sparks move to help others stay safe

Nurse Sydney Sutherland’s Aug. 17 murder in Arkansas continues to impact the region.

The 25-year-old was killed while on a jog in a rural area. A suspect has been arrested by authorities and is in custody.

Businesswoman and mother Janet McNece has decided to turn her anger over the tragic loss into something positive in the woman’s memory.

McNece is sponsoring a run/walk event named Finish Sydney’s Run at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at McLane Park. After the run, Judy Schremp will offer safety advice and others will have booths providing learning opportunities about staying safe.

“When I heard (about the murder) initially I was so angry,” McNece said. “It struck a chord with me because she was in my daughters’ age group. She was a year younger than her, both are in nursing.”

Continuing, McNece said, “We live in a very rural area. When we go to walk or run, we run on our gravel roads because that’s where we live. Someone who had worked so hard to get that degree, and was serving others all day long, and all she was doing was caring about her personal health and going for a run.”

Rather, than dwell on the anger, McNece said, “it just didn’t help with anything. What’s done was done.”

McNece questioned “what good can come out of this? I heard they were doing a walk in her honor in the Tuckerman, Arkansas, area where she lived. There’s a lot of people in our area who are affected and would like to do something, but we’re not all able to go there.”

Her next call was to the Poplar Bluff Parks and Recreation Department officials who instantly agreed to help and to waive the park fee. McNece’s first video announcing her plans “had a great response.”

McNece’s friends, like Sydney’s friends, reached out. Sydney’s family has asked that donations go to a nursing scholarship in her memory at Arkansas State University at Newport.

A graphic artist friend of Sydney’s is making shirts in her memory with the money going to the fund. The friend and McNece worked together designing T-shirts for Finish Sydney’s Run. McNece purchased 200 shirts and will give them to the first 200 runners/walkers who arrive at the park.

McNece wants “to have something good come from this and turn the anger into awareness.”

“I cannot dwell on him (the alleged murderer) because he does not deserve the attention,” she said. “What he did was awful. It was just brutal and awful and evil.”

McNece wants to focus on Sydney, whose nickname was Sassy.

“She was very, very outgoing, very loving. She was a nurse. She had a passion for elderly patients. She really wanted to help elderly people and that’s where she excelled. Which to me is heartbreaking, because that is a gift. And she was really good at it,” McNece said.

“She took a lot of pride in her physical fitness and her health. Just like she was doing the day she got killed, she was out running and trying to be healthy. If we can work on the scholarship for other young women who want to go into that profession, there’s got to be some good come from all of this.”

McNece said, if possible, Sydney’s mother is coming to the local event.

“If people want to run they can run, but if people want to walk, this has nothing to do with physical fitness. This is about honoring her. We want her life to be remembered not because of this evil person. We want her life to be remembered for what she accomplished in such a short period of time,” McNece said.

Different people have asked McNece, “‘can we donate’ and if someone wants to donate, they’re welcome to and it’ll go into the scholarship fund. It’s not required. I don’t want people to feel obligated they have to buy a shirt, that’s already taken care of. They don’t have to donate, they can just show up in support of this beautiful young lady and her legacy. That’s the only thing they have to do.”

McNece admits “I think I’m pretty invincible, but it’s made me rethink. You know you’re not invincible when you face somebody three times your size.”

Awareness is McNece’s second goal.

“The state of our world we’re living in, you’ve got to be careful. Sydney Sutherland did nothing wrong. She lived in a rural farming community. She was going for a run, she should have been able to without any harm coming to her.”

When McNece walks at McLane Park, “I am seeing women so engrossed on their cell phones and in conversation, they are oblivious to anything around them. So Schremp will talk about things to be mindful of, be careful about wearing earbuds if you’re out by yourself and you’re in a remote area, because you’re not always able to hear if somebody comes up behind you.”

Schremp’s talk will include concerning situations in a restaurant or a bar and about being aware, looking for signs and how to react in those situations.

McNece said, “Gain some awareness. The truth in this situation is, Sydney knew that person, she grew up in the same area as that person. So it wasn’t a stranger to her when he came upon her, it was someone she had grown up with. They were not friends from what I understand. He had caused problems in the past but he had moved to the Jonesboro area. She thought she was safe to go out and run.”