When Jacob Cunningham’s wife died unexpectedly in 2023, just two days after their Christmas Day wedding, he became the sole provider for their two children, Camillia and Alistair. It wasn’t always easy for the young family, relatives say. Cunningham commuted from their rental home in Lexington, Missouri, to Liberty to work as a butcher at Price Chopper and relied on family and close friends to help with babysitting when they could. Cunningham and the kids would talk about their mom in heaven, said Nicole Lovellette, Cunningham’s aunt. And the three leaned on one another and other family to get through the last 15 or so months. It was unthinkable that tragedy would strike again. Especially this soon. “The kids were starting to do really well,” Lovellette said. “I mean, it’s hard to come back from that kind of setback, the loss of a mother, but
