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The Blackburn family speaks about life without Amanda

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Davey Blackburn and his family spoke on Tuesday to the media in the wake of murder charges being filed in his wife’s death.

“I’m proud to be her dad,” said Phil Byars, Amanda Blackburn’s dad. “I’m proud of what she turned into. I’m proud of the woman that she was and the mother that she was. That’s all I have to say about that.”

Byars and Amanda’s husband Davey, sat together in an interview on Tuesday with Inside Edition one day after charges were filed against 18-year-old Larry Taylor Jr., and 21-year-old Jalen Watson, in her murder.

“There is relief to know that they are off the streets,” said Davey.

Like her husband, Amanda’s father is also a pastor. He said his daughter Amanda was the joy of the family.

“It’s hard. We’re holding each other up and other people are holding us up,” said Byars.

“I don’t feel like forgiving,” said Davey. “I feel like being angry. I feel like being mad. I feel like being frustrated. I feel like slipping into despair but the problem with that is that doesn’t lead down to any good road.”

As the suspects went before a judge, Taylor was given enhanced charges for the murder of Amanda and Davey’s unborn child.

She was three months pregnant. Now, instead of getting ready for a new baby, the family is preparing to face the men charged with killing Amanda in court.

“It kind of had calmed down a little bit after the celebration of her life and the shock of the event,” said Byars. “And then this is all just kind of sweeping back in, and it’s just another wave of emotion that we have to deal with in a totally different way now.”

“We’re trying to take it a day at a time,” said Davey. “We know that we’re going to have to get a little bit into those weeds in order to rise above them. And we’re going to have to go through that in order to grieve properly but, I think if we took it all at once, it would crush us.”

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