Hope Wilbanks was roused from sleep by the ringing of her phone. As her niece’s name flashed across the screen her stomach sank in dread; her worst nightmare — the murder of her youngest sister, Faith Manley — was a reality.
Faith Manley, 38, died Nov. 16 after her estranged husband, 40-year-old James Manley, shot her in her Carencro home before killing himself. The couple’s four children were present at the home and their eldest, 18-year-old Dylan, was shot by his father during the incident.
It’s been a tough three weeks since.
The Manley children have resettled in Katy, Texas, with Faith Manley’s sister, Crystal Boudreaux. Wilbanks said they’re trying to maintain stability and routines for the children, like family bedtime prayer, to provide comfort. They’re also providing space for the children to process their emotions from the tragedy, with family and a counselor, and share openly about their mother and father.
“Do I think they’ll be OK? I do. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of days they’re going to cry. They’regoing to miss her. They’re going to want to call her, but they’re all strong kids. Every one of them,” said Judy Dupre, a close family friend from Palmetto.
Dupre said she watched Faith Manley’s mother, Carolyn, grow up, and saw Faith and her two sisters grow from tots to women with families of their own. In her mind’s eye, the 74-year-old said, she can still see Faith as a curly-haired child with wide blue eyes, who charmed everyone as the baby of the family with her warm personality.
She was sweet, but also determined, a trait she carried into adulthood and applied first to her college career while raising four children, then to her work as a respiratory therapist at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center. She was meticulous, steady minded and was willing to work hard to get what she wanted, Dupre said.
Faith Manley always gave her best, whether it was serving BBQ at a church function or singing a solo hymn at the First Pentecostal Church of Bayou Rouge. Her work ethic was balanced by good humor and a love of laughter; she was always quick with a joke and a bright smile, Dupre said.
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“When I think about Faith, it’s like whatever moment it was, she lived life to the fullest. She enjoyed that moment,” Dupre said.
Faith worked hard on her marriage with James Manley. Wilbanks, who lived in Tennessee when the two married, said she hadn’t known her brother-in-law before the two wed, but over the years she observed behavior and language directed toward her sister that didn’t sit right.
As things deteriorated, Wilbanks remembers James Manley ranting on Facebook about his marriage and hanging signs to get his wife’s attention on the route from her Carencro home to work. Throughout it all, Wilbanks said her sister didn’t speak poorly of her husband. She just wanted him to get treatment for his worsening mental state.
Court filings in the 15th Judicial District Court show Faith Manley received a protective order against her husband Sept. 17 that was valid for one year. In the document, she wrote he was exhibiting “unpredictable behavior” and was harassing her at her home in Carencro. The respiratory therapist said her estranged husband had also previously admitted to drug use.
Wilbanks said her sister never spoke of physical abuse; there were attempts, but each time Faith Manley said her husband halted just before striking her or resorting to violence.
The two were in the midst of a divorce at the time of the murder-suicide. Wilbanks and Dupre said it was a hard decision for Faith Manley; the couple had separated several times, but each time Faith took her husband back and tried to shore up their relationship. She wanted to avoid breaking apart her family.
But prayers and best efforts couldn’t fix what was wrong with her husband, they said.
Dupre recalled once, during a dark time in the Manleys’ relationship, she was called to join their pastor and his wife to pray over Faith Manley.
“She couldn’t talk. All she did was cry but we began to pray and God began to move in that room. She knew that God was going to give her the strength to keep going. When I say there was no turning to the right or left, she knew like Paul said in the Bible, when you’re called to stand, you just stand. You just know where God has you right now and after a while this storm is going to pass. You’ll be strong enough to walk again. This is how Faith’s faith was,” Dupre said.
About a year ago, when Faith moved to Carencro, Wilbanks said she was hopeful her sister would escape her marriage. But still trying to save her relationship, Faith Manley briefly took her husband back, only to face more of the same erratic behavior. She kicked him out again, but now he knew where to find her and the children, her sister said.
Carencro police officers believe the 18-year-old victim injured in a domestic violence murder-suicide may have saved his younger siblings.
Wilbanks said she lost hours of sleep worrying for her sister’s safety and had to block James Manley on Facebook as he continued to “spin out of control” and becomemore consumed by the dissolution of his marriage. Even in her anxious state, Wilbanks never considered life without her sister.
Hearing the Carencro police officer confirm her sister was dead outside her home on Meadowvale Drive was devastating beyond comprehension, she said.
The two women, about six years apart, grew from sisters to best friends in adulthood as their relationship matured, Wilbanks said. Faith Manley grew from a tagalong younger sister in Wilbanks’ eyes to a compassionate, trustworthy and strong woman who was steady and true in her faith and her dealings with everyone in her life, her sister said.
“I’m going to miss everything. I’m going to miss how she’d text me pictures of the sunrise when she’d get to work in the morning. I’m going to miss her silly jokes she’d tell that didn’t make any sense, but still made us laugh because she was telling them. I’m going to miss her friendship most of all,” Wilbanks said.
Through their grief, Wilbanks said their family is thankful the children survived.
“I think she really knew that one day it was going to happen. She had those children trained down to the last dotting of the ‘i’ and crossing of the ‘t’, if something ever happens this is what you do. They followed it to the letter,” Dupre said.
Wilbanks said her nephew, Dylan, told his aunts his father demanded the 18-year-old collect his sisters so they could gather as a family. The girls had already hidden in a bedroom when their father arrived at the home. The teen refused and was shot in the back.
Wilbanks said the bullet entered one shoulder, missed his spinal cord and passed out his other shoulder. The 18-year-old is recovering well from the injury.
“It was nothing but the hand of God on that child it happened that way,” she said.
Wilbanks said she’s awed at the courage of Dylan and her nieces and proud of their composure. She’s also proud of her sister, that even in her worst and final moments she had a plan to protect her children.
The 44-year-old said her sister prioritized spending every free moment with her four children, especially in recent months as shifts at the hospital became more intense while she provided therapy to COVID-19 patients. While time as a family was important, Faith Manley would also set aside special nights and weekends with each child, letting them choose an activity for mom and child to do together so they’d feel invested in as individuals, Wilbanks said.
“They were her life. Everything she did, every decision she made, it was all with them first in mind. She always put them first,” she said.
Wilbanks said the weeks after her sister’s death have been a swirl of emotions: anger, grief, regret, pain, listlessness and hope for her nieces and nephew. She’s started a website, faithsheart.com, to memorialize her sister while processing through her grief in real time. A section on the website also provides links to domestic violence resources.
The Palmetto resident said she hopes people in situations like Faith’s seek help from loved ones and describe in detail their situation and their concerns. If you fear for your life, do not isolate yourself or let your significant other isolate you, but enlist the help of confidantes and professionals quickly.
“Her 38 years on the face of this Earth mattered. She made a difference while she was here and as long as I have breath to live, I fully intend to make sure we keep her alive through the stories and the memories, because she deserves that,” her sister said.
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