‘Half my family is gone’: Mom mourns Iowa family found dead at Mexico resort

CLOSE

“Life is not going to be the same without her,” Beth Fry added after finding out that Amy Sharp, her husband Kevin and their two kids were found dead in Mexico early Friday.
Brian Powers/The Register

CRESTON, Iowa — The only place here large enough to hold the shock and grief engulfing this town will be Southwestern Community College, perhaps in the gymnasium.

That’s where mourners will gather for the funeral of a local family of four — parents Kevin and Amy Sharp and their children, Sterling and Adrianna — who went missing during their Mexican spring break vacation and were found dead Friday in their resort condo in Akumal.

Foul play isn’t suspected, but that hasn’t eased the pain of beloved relatives, friends and neighbors rocked by the tragedy.

Amy Sharp’s close family gathered on a chilly Friday afternoon at the home of Beth Fry, Amy’s mother.

“Life is not going to be the same without her,” Fry said, overcome with grief as she stood in the bitter wind. “Half my family is gone.”

More: Iowa family reported missing found dead in Mexico condominium

More: 140 victims of Mexico resort blackouts. Now, Congress wants action

But then the mother regained her composure.

“We’re determined. We have love and support and family and friends and we will get through this. One way or another, we will.”

She leaned on her older daughter, Renee Hoyt. Amy Sharp’s cousin, Jana Weland, stood beside them.

Other relatives circled around in the garage — nursing beers, numb in grief, sharing funny memories and trying to cheer each other up.

It was surreal, they said, as if they were watching some TV crime drama rather than their own lives as friends and family walked up with sagging plastic bags full of donated food and other items.

Kevin Sharp had been a salesman for the family beer distributor, Southwest Distributing Co.

Amy Sharp worked from home as a dental-claims specialist for Principal Financial in Des Moines.

Daughter, 7-year-old Adrianna, “was our fashion stylist,” said her aunt, Hoyt.

“Our diva girl,” added her grandmother, Fry. “She ruled that family.”

Sterling, 12, was comparatively quiet. But he was an avid athlete and sportsman — baseball, swimming, fishing, hunting, etc.

“His dad and him are a team,” Fry said, slipping into present tense.

The Sharps, both of whom took classes at Southwestern, by all accounts were two of the biggest Spartans fans in town. They welcomed basketball players into their home for Christmas dinner and other holidays.

As Spartans men’s basketball coach Todd Lorensen prepared to play that night in Danville, Illinois, competing in the NJCAA Division II championship playoffs, his mind drifted to the Sharps.

“I consider them friends,” he messaged. “They were to be here watching us play. … This family is an instrumental part of our Southwestern family, and we are all grieving their loss.”

More: Woman who reported rape on TripAdvisor says company lied about apology for deleting post

The Sharps also were rabid Iowa Hawkeyes fans.

They loved just about every sport imaginable.

“They traveled six days a week for those kids’ sports,” Hoyt said.

“They lived life on the fly, let me tell you,” Fry said, managing a smile.

This would have been the family’s second trip to Danville to cheer the Spartans.

It was their absence for the weekend that turned increasing worry in Creston into sheer panic, triggering Thursday night’s intense manhunt via the U.S. State Department.

This tragedy touches nearly all of Creston.

“Have you ever seen family trees that the branches go every which way?” Hoyt said, waving her hands above her to illustrate.

That was the Frys, Sharps and Baileys here. In that way, this family of four represents a loss for “most of the community, one way or another,” Fry said.

Not to mention that Fry herself is a popular waitress at Mario’s, the local bar and grill. Another relative runs a hair salon.

Hoyt not only was Amy’s sister but also was a high school classmate of Kevin’s. And her husband, Glen, was the guy who helped him catch the racing bug.

Kevin Sharp served in Glen’s pit crew for stock car races on the dirt track in Corning.

The family thought there was no way that Kevin Sharpwould actually begin racing himself. He was too much the businessman. Not a gearhead in the least.

“Wouldn’t even know a wrench,” Hoyt laughed.

But he got behind the wheel, loved it and went on to win trophies. He handed out his distributing company’s hats to winners, which turned out to be the most coveted trophies.

Sharp wasn’t going to race more than a couple times this year because of the family’s devotion to baseball and other sports.

Kevin and Amy Sharp had been married more than 16 years. They tied the knot in Vegas.

They met when Kevin began hanging around the Fry house for Sunday afternoon backyard volleyball games. Then he tagged along for a Fry trip to a Cardinals game in St. Louis.

What had been planned as a modest family vacation became a raucous road trip with a rental van full of Amy’s invited friends — including Kevin.

“We loaded (the van) up and had the time of our life,” Fry said. “Her and Kevin kind of got together that weekend.”

And that’s how the family lived: constantly on the fly.

Sterling and Adrianna didn’t even know they were going to Mexico until they were at the airport and getting on the plane — one more example of the family’s sense of adventure.

But now, the travel has become a somber homecoming, as relatives streamed back to Creston. The horrible day Friday played out exactly a month before Amy Sharp’s 39th birthday.

Her stepbrother in the Navy was flying in from Virginia Beach.

Kevin Sharp’s parents also had been on vacation and were en route.

Powers Funeral Home is making the arrangements for the funeral late next week at Southwestern.

Follow Kyle Munson on Twitter: @KyleMunson

Share and Enjoy