Legacy of Mercy: A True Story of Murder and a Mother’s Forgiveness
Gretchen R. Crowe
Our Sunday Visitor
2022
More than 23 years have passed since a young Catholic college student from the Columbus area and his roommate were senselessly robbed and murdered by two troubled juveniles.
The gut-wrenching tragedy that took place in late spring 1999 hit home particularly hard in the Diocese of Columbus.
One of the victims was 18-year-old Brian Muha, who grew up in Westerville, graduated from St. Charles Preparatory School in 1998 and went on to Franciscan University of Steubenville. He had just completed his freshman year of college in Steubenville and had returned there for the summer.
Muha and roommate Aaron Land, also a Franciscan student, were attacked and robbed at their rental house on May 31, 1999 and taken by their assailants, who stole Muha’s automobile, to a field in western Pennsylvania about half an hour from campus where they were shot and left to die.
A manhunt ensued to find the two young men. Four agonizing days later, their bodies were located on June 4, 1999. The families’ worst fears were realized.
Two young men with their entire lives ahead of them were gone in an instant.
As details emerged about how the crime unfolded and the news made national headlines, what shocked most people was the resolute faith of Muha’s mother, Rachel. Several days before her son’s body was discovered, she stood before a gathering of 250 people in Christ the King Chapel at Franciscan University and spoke four words that astounded everyone in attendance and would prove to be the foundation for Brian’s legacy: “I forgive these men.”
How a mother who had lost the youngest of her sons could show such mercy touched the minds and hearts of everyone who heard about this incredible act of charity, from the police officers who had to share the grisly details of the murders to the students and clergy at Franciscan to family and friends back home in Columbus.
Twenty-three years later, the pain remains for Rachel Muha, but she has worked every day since then to bring good out of tragedy with her work to help at-risk and disadvantaged youth on Columbus’ west side through the Brian Muha Foundation and the Run the Race Club.
She recounts her journey from raising and losing her son, forgiving the murderers and moving on from the devastation with a loving heart rather than with vengeance or hate in the recently released book Legacy of Mercy: A True Story of Murder and a Mother’s Forgiveness, written by Gretchen R. Crowe of Our Sunday Visitor.
“I have done a lot of speaking over the years, and people asked frequently if I wrote a book,” Muha said. “Every time I tried, though, it was just too hard.
“When I was approached by Our Sunday Visitor with the offer of a writer, I thought that was the perfect solution.”
Crowe, an experienced Catholic journalist who is close to Brian’s age, explained in the book’s introduction that she was unfamiliar with the story before being approached about writing it but immediately knew she had to take on the project after watching an interview with Rachel Muha.
The author draws a parallel to the suffering of Muha as a mother to that endured by the Blessed Virgin Mary as she watched her Son Jesus die on the cross.
“In speaking with Rachel, and in getting to know her intimately, I feel I’ve been given an opportunity to witness what it means to live the Gospel fully, in the way the Lord desires for each of us,” Crowe wrote in the introduction.
Crowe retells Muha’s story through numerous interviews and research in a journalistic style that’s informative and captivating even for those who might know most of the details.
Muha also wanted the book written “especially for people who are just now in their 20s and 30s and maybe never heard the terrible and beautiful story of Brian’s life and death.”
The raw emotions of those involved in Brian’s life were expressed through Crowe’s interviews. She goes beyond the well-researched facts to add a human element to the book, which provides a compilation of the events that continue to occur years after the murder.
“I wanted to have Brian’s life, spirit and personality written down and preserved,” Muha said. “And I wanted everyone to know what forgiveness and suffering really mean and how important they are.
“Lastly, I wanted the history and necessity of something like Run the Race to be recorded.”
The Run the Race Club first met in November 2005 in the basement of Columbus Holy Family Church, the Muhas’ home parish, and through time has expanded into a burgeoning ministry on the west side that helps inner-city youth and families in a multitude of ways, many of which are explained in Part III of the book.
The work that continues in his name remains a major part of Brian’s legacy, his mom said.
Part I of the book addresses Brian’s life and his death – his early years growing up in Westerville and culminating with the pain and suffering of his loss.
A forward by Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, the current president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, provides his perspective, particularly on Rachel’s faith and courage that he witnessed when then serving on campus as the director of conferences.
Those two parts of the book – “recounting finding Brian and the pain that caused, and the loneliness that set in immediately, the pain of losing someone you love is a pain of longing for them, the other part that touches my heart is the sweetness and resilience of inner-city children and how much they deserve a childhood that insures they will soar instead of sour” – are the sections that she said really touch her heart.
Part II delves mostly into the murder trials in Steubenville for Nathan Herring and Terrell Yarbrough. An appendix includes statements addressed to these troubled men from Rachel and oldest son Chris at the trial. They expressed the pain the murders caused them but begged the two to confess and seek Christ’s forgiveness.
“I have learned that forgiveness is the key to the Christian life,” Muha said. “It is what Our Lord does every day, every second of every day.
“And it is what He wants us to do in order to really be the ‘image and likeness of God.’ But it is misunderstood, too.”
In the few months since the book was released, Muha said she has been invited to speak at events and attend book signings and has received “sweet messages from people who have read the book already.”
More than anything, she hopes the takeaway for readers will be that “people who are struggling with forgiveness would stop struggling, trust God, learn what forgiveness is and do it. They will not regret it. And they will be making their world and our great big world a much better place.
“I also hope they take to heart the children of the inner city and pray for them each and every day – pray that they grow up to become what God has in mind for them.”
The book is available at local Catholic bookstores and through numerous online outlets including publisher Our Sunday Visitor at www.osvcatholicbookstore.com.