Skip to main content
Fog icon
58º

Verdict doesn't give grieving mother peace

Guy Heinze Jr. convicted on Friday of eight counts of murder

A woman who lost four children and her ex-husband in the brutal beating deaths in a Glynn County mobile home four years ago is speaking for the first time about last week's conviction of their killer: Guy Heinze Jr.

Heinze Jr. was found guilty Friday in the clubbing deaths of his father and seven others in August 2009. 

Four of the victims were Diane Isenhour's children.The oldest was 22; the youngest, 15.

She says a part of her died the day they were murdered, and the conviction of Heinze has done little to ease her pain.

"I deal with it day by day," Isenhour said. "I don't deal with nobody. I stay home all the time. Sometimes I cry eight, 10 times a day for my kids.

She cherishes a decade-old family photo of her daughters, Chrissy and Michelle, sons Michael and Russell Jr. and their father, Russell Toler Sr.

Her 3-year-old grandson survived the beatings.

During the two-week trial, Isenhour saw the gruesome images of her children's bodies for the first time.

"I just had to see the autopsy, because, in my heart I did not believe that they were gone. I finally found the answer. I was hunting."

Isenhour believes Heinze was responsible for the murders.

"He knows what time they go to bed," Isenhour said, adding that she believes the murder was carefully planned.

She still wants to know why this happened -- something that remains unanswered as Heinze continues to maintain his innocence as he faces life in sentence.

While she still hurts, Isenhour feels her children are at peace.

"They don't have to hurt anymore."