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Oxford EAGLE
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
Hartigan burial draws emotional
crowd
By Loretta Winston
STAFF WRITER
OXFORD, Miss. -- A dark cloud of anguish and
bewilderment still hovered over the town here as Denise Hartigan was put to rest in Bishop Hill Cemetery yesterday
afternoon. Friends, relatives and other saddened townsfolk
turned out en masse to offer their grief over the former Oxonian's horrifying death.
Nearly 300 visitors arrived at Bishop Hill's tiny chapel for the
funeral. The crowd spilled into the parking lot, and those who could
not sit down waited until the service moved outside to the grave
site. Reverend Jonathan Everett gave a
poignant service, and Hartigan's former fiancé, Grant Sexton, delivered a moving eulogy.
Hartigan, 25, was the victim of a brutal killing that has terrified
the town.
The Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department
discovered her head in a bucket near Taylor Creek on January 15, 2005. Several other body parts,
later identified as Hartigan's, were found as far away as Toccopola, Bruce and Batesville. An investigation into
her death is currently underway.
A former prom queen and local teen-age favorite, Hartigan
had been away from Oxford for seven years in various parts of
the country before her unfortunate return. Friends
and family who tried to catch up with her over the years were met with
disheartening news. Some heard she had abused drugs and
alcohol, while others had reason to believe she was involved
in bizarre religious sects.
Yet these rumors did not deter the people who loved and
remembered her fondly from paying their final respects.
"We are all shattered and sore to the pit of our souls
over the violence of Denise's departure," said Sexton in
his rousing address. "We yearn to know what drove her away
from us, and what led her to her end. Yet also we are afraid
to seek answers to these questions."
Hartigan was born on February 22, 1979. She
grew up with her family in Oxford and graduated from
Oxford High School in 1997. She then briefly attended Northwest
Community College before leaving town in January of 1998 to follow the
band Widespread Panic on tour around the country.
She is survived by her parents, Adam and Alicia Hartigan
of Oxford, and a sister, Rita, 24, who also
disappeared suddenly from town several years ago.
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