‘Beautiful soul,’ 21-year-old mom of 2, was found in a ditch. Her family wants answers
James Starcher reconnected with his granddaughter around Christmastime after a brief falling out. He’d raised her from a young age before watching with worry as she struggled through the second decade of her life.
Now, he’s pleading for answers after learning her body was found in a bag dumped on the side of the road in rural Buchanan County.
“Unless somebody speaks, nobody’s going to know,” Starcher said.
The body of Ariel Starcher, 21, was found Tuesday in a ditch on Vincent Road between Southwest State Highway V and Route 371 in Buchanan County. Her death is being investigated as a homicide by the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office.
Her grandfather, who legally adopted her and her siblings when she was an infant, said that she was “full of life” as a child but a traumatic event when she was 10 placed Ariel Starcher on a downward spiral she was never able to recover from.
She was a loving mother to her 6-year-old and 14-month-old daughters. Both are being taken care of by other family members or friends, he said.
However, he said, her “demons were stronger than she could bear.” In her short life, James Starcher said, Ariel Starcher lost two friends to gun violence in Kansas City. She stood next to one of those friends as they were shot, he said.
Even in the bad years, though, he said she had a constant smile.
Over time, he said, many in their family turned their backs on Ariel but she kept in close touch with his wife — her grandmother — who he said was one of the few people who still believed in her.
He said he worried that she spent time with dangerous people.
“I always worried about her, the life she was going through,” he said. “She was trying to change her life, get her life straightened out. But it’s just one step forward and four steps back.”
Looking for answers
By the time Ariel Starcher’s biological father, James Starcher’s stepson, called him Friday to say her body had been found, the family hadn’t heard from Ariel for weeks and was worried.
When he learned she was gone, James Starcher said his “whole world just fell out.”
He’s hanging onto memories of bringing her to work with him when she was a child, and watching football with her as an adult while he tries to find a way to tell her oldest daughter that she’s gone and keep her memory alive for the baby.
He’s also looking for answers, contacting her friends in the Kansas City area and sending any leads he can to the detective on her case.
“I do want justice for Ariel,” he said. “Whoever did this brutal crime, they need to pay.”
Other friends and family jumped into action Friday night building GoFundMe pages to cover Ariel Starcher’s funeral expenses.
“She could be a handful but her love was true and the hearts of many will have an empty hole that will never be filled,” relative Aja Starcher wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Aja Starcher described Ariel Starcher as a “beautiful soul” with a contagious laugh.
