Mark Schaepe said he saw his nieces Rachael and Stephanie Works only a handful of times during trips to a family cabin halfway between the Workses’ home in Denver and Schaepe’s home in Lincoln, Neb.
But it took only those few trips for Schaepe to understand how special the girls were, he said.
“Family picnics, hiking, fishing at Lake Maloney. They never went anywhere without a smile,” Schaepe said. “They were happy girls who loved life just like their mother.”
Rachael, 16, and Stephanie, 18, were shot and killed by Matthew Murray, 24, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs police Sgt. Jeff Jensen said the girls’ mother, Marie, and another sister — Rachael’s twin — were present when the shooting happened. They were physically unharmed. Their father, David Works, 51, was shot twice and is in fair condition at Penrose Hospital.
The girls were home-schooled by their parents after moving to Colorado from Whitefish, Mont., in the late 1990s.
The family gravitated to the church because of its strong Christian convictions, Schaepe said.
“A strong belief in Jesus has always been in our family,” Schaepe said.
It was that connection to the church that motivated the Works girls to become as involved as they did, Schaepe said.
Stephanie Works had recently returned from a trip to China with five other students from Liberty High School in Colorado Springs.
“They’re good kids,” said Mel Waters, an associate pastor at New Life Church, who added the Workses had been congregation members for a year. “They loved the Lord.”
Colorado Springs and Arvada police confirmed that Murray was the shooter at the New Life Church and at the Youth With a Mission dormitory on the Faith Bible Chapel campus in Arvada.
A search warrant said Murray had sent “different forms of hate mail to the (YWAM) program and/or its director.”
Murray apparently had been denied entrance to the program a few years ago.
The Works girls visited the Arvada school several times, Schaepe said.
Schaepe said his family would be flying to Denver to comfort his sister, who he said was turning to the church to cope with the shooting.
“It doesn’t make any difference than if this had happened in a car or out in the street,” Schaepe said.
New Life Church has established a fund for the Works family.
Cassie Hewlings: 303-954-1638 or chewlings@denverpost.com
