COBB COUNTY, Ga — A special golf tournament was held Tuesday to honor the memory of the local golf professional who was killed in a triple murder over July 4th weekend.
Channel 2′s Audrey Washington is at Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw where friends and family spoke about Gene Siller before the tournament began.
Hundreds of people gathered at Gene Siller Red Pants Memorial Golf Tournament. The tournament supports a foundation that the Siller family started. It will provide financial aid to youth golfers.
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Siller is remembered as a loving father, husband, brother and son. Siller and his wife Ashley had been married since 2007. They have two boys, 5 and 7.
Ashley Siller told Washington the outpouring of support and love from the community is exactly what her husband would have wanted.
“It as been 52 days since I sat on these exact stairs and saw the love of my life, the daddy of our boys, the son of two parents lifeless on hole 10, right there on that green,” Siller said.
This was the first time she’s spoken in public about her husband’s death.
“Gene wouldn’t want us to cry or be sad or to mourn. He would want us to celebrate him and do something for other people,” she said. “All the proceeds go to junior golfers, for the tournament fees, green fees and eventually we grow the foundation for scholarships.”
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Siller was killed last month on the 10th hole of the Pinetree County Club golf course.
Police said Siller was not targeted but came upon a crime in progress. A man driving a truck on the green with two bodies in the bed of it shot and killed Siller before fleeing the scene.
The suspect Bryan Rhoden is charged with three counts of murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of kidnapping.
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