Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
by Tom Archdeacon
The call left him reeling.
Justin Mitchell and his twin brother Jescus — who he calls Zuess — had spent the night at their mom’s home in Fort Wayne rather than at the Clinton Street house where they lived with their dad.
When the phone rang, everyone was still asleep. Justin, who was then 16, answered:
“It was my younger brother, Levi,” he said. “And he goes, ‘Aaaah…Dad’s dead!’
“I was like ‘Whaaat?’
“And he just says, ‘Dad got killed last night!’
“I remember going in the restroom and just staring in the mirror. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Zeuss. When I finally did, he just started crying.”
Mitchell, now the standout senior point guard at Wright State, quietly shared his story as he sat on the deserted concourse at the Nutter Center after practice Wednesday:
“We went over to the house and when you first walk in, you’re like in the kitchen. All we saw was blood and where Dad was lying. There was blood all over the house.
“We went upstairs and there was a big hole. And the drawers were all run through where they’d been looking for money.”
As Mitchell learned the details, he was devastated not only by what had happened, but by who was involved.
