Mom hopes to prevent murders like her daughter’s
Victoria Best has gone over the what-ifs countless times since last March, turning over in her head all the missed opportunities and tangles of red tape that preceded her daughter's death.
“You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you the whole story,” she said.
Her daughter, Maria Best, was one of 174 victims of homicide in Columbus last year.
Maria was stabbed to death in her Near East Side apartment on March 13, three days after her 23rd birthday. Police have charged a Franklinton man and homeless woman in her death. They are awaiting trial on charges that include aggravated murder.
The suspects knew Maria and had just moved into her new apartment, an apartment that Victoria Best wasn't sure was a good idea. The pair turned out to be the last in a line of grifters to take advantage of Maria's trusting nature, developmental disabilities and mental health issues.
“She couldn't say no to anybody, ever,” Victoria Best said. “You'd never know who she was going to think was a friend.”
As she combed through the last few years of her daughter's life, Best saw with increasing clarity that certain events left her more vulnerable.
“It just got me thinking that there are a lot of things wrong, certain
infrastructural needs,” she said. “I had a lot of frustration just trying to navigate the system.”
Those insights, she thinks, could be valuable to other families whose loved ones are at risk. Bringing together victims’ families to share their stories with public officials, she said, might yield valuable data on all kinds of social issues, from domestic violence and substance abuse to gaps in social services.
“We could share some of these issues in a venue where maybe solutions could be thought of or proposed,” she said.
“We’re the experts in knowing where the gaps are, for us,” Best said. With each homicide victim, “I’m sure somebody close to that person has an idea of what could have maybe made it better.”
In Maria’s case, the biggest holes were in the mental health system, Best said. When Maria turned 18, she was excited at the prospect of independence, Her mother was too.
“She was actually reasonably successful the first few years,” Best said.
“Her work ethic was probably superior to a lot of people. Even though it took her 10 tries to get something that somebody else might get immediately, she never gave up. I have to give her credit for being a role model.”
Then Maria’s bipolar disorder worsened. Best, a scientific director at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, supported her daughter however she could.
“I ended up basically being her case manager,” she said.
As she tried to balance her daughter’s wish for independence with her own concerns, Best found herself lost at sea.
Maria demanded that she handle her own disability payments, only to have the money stolen by people she hardly knew but considered friends. She was told by a job-training program that she wasn’t disabled enough to participate.
High turnover of case workers at various agencies meant little or no continuity in her treatment. She also would miss appointments, leading psychiatrists to drop her as a patient. That in turn meant long delays before she could see another psychiatrist, Best said.
Some well-meaning agencies, unaware of the nuances of the situation, sometimes enabled Maria, her mother said. Best thought they’d finally found the needed expertise and continuity at Columbus Area Integrated Health Services on the Near East Side. Maria’s case worker there was excellent.
“She helped me understand the system” and suggested that Best consider becoming a court-appointed guardian. Best had never been told about the option.
But in May 2019, the agency closed abruptly due to money problems. It never reopened. Some 2,000 clients, including Maria, were left in the lurch.
“One day it wasn’t there, and that was probably her best chance,” Best said.
Best said she is not out to assign blame, and she is hard on herself for making mistakes.
“It’s a mess to navigate, and I just didn’t do a good enough job,” she said.
She envisions a summit of sorts in which families of homicide victims shared their thoughts on what might have kept their loved ones alive. Some might address domestic violence, substance abuse or gangs. Others might dovetail with Best’s experiences in dealing with mental health issues..
Much of violence prevention work is understandably directed at the potential offenders. But this idea of Best’s has merit. If we fill some of the bigger cracks, maybe some would-be victims never fall through.
“It just seems like it would be a worthwhile opportunity,” Best said. She thinks of Maria’s one true close friend, a young man with mental health issues of his own and no family to lean on. She isn’t sure what happened to him after Maria’s death.
“Both of them needed help, and we didn’t get it from the system,” she said. “It was just my naivete thinking that someone was going to come in and save us. That is not what happened.” tdecker@dispatch.com @Theodore_decker