'Shocked and saddened': Sarah Ferguson shared heartfelt tribute to former assistant

Content warning: This article mentions murder, which could trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.

In a shocking turn of events, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has shared a heartfelt tribute to a former employee, Jenean Chapman, whose life was brutally cut short in Texas, USA.


The 63-year-old Duchess expressed her grief at the heartbreaking news in an emotional social media post last Saturday, September 30.

'I am shocked and saddened to learn that Jenean Chapman, who worked with me as my personal assistant many years ago, has been murdered in Dallas aged just 46. A suspect is in custody,' Sarah wrote, followed by the hashtag ‘#justiceforjenean’.


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The Duchess of York shared a tribute for her former employee who has passed away in the United States. Credit: sarahferguson15/Instagram


Sarah continued, 'Jenean was loyal, hardworking, beautiful and fun, and my heart breaks for her family and friends. I heard from her just a couple of months ago, and she seemed so happy. Her family is raising money to transport her body back to New York City and pay for legal and funeral costs, and I will be making a donation and supporting the family in any way possible.'


According to a news source, Dallas police said that Jenean Chapman was found dead in a downtown Dallas apartment on Monday, September 25.

On Tuesday, September 26, a medical examiner determined her cause of death was homicide.

James Patrick, 48, the former husband and prime suspect, was arrested by University of Texas Police at a hospital on September 27 and charged with Jenean’s murder.

Police are yet to disclose any details on why Patrick was hospitalised.

Jenean’s sisters, Nicole and Crystal, told a news source that they were ‘completely blindsided’ by the news of Jean’s tragic passing and Patrick’s involvement in the crime.

They said the couple had been dating on and off for six years before getting married in July. Jenean relocated to Texas five months ago.

‘We just know in the last year, the relationship got really rocky,’ Nicole shared.


'That’s why I use the word “blindsided” because we did not see this coming,' Crystal said.

'We knew that they had arguments, and that’s typical in relationships. It was a bit toxic, but we would never think it would be taken to this extreme where my sister would ultimately lose her life,’ she added.

Nicole and Crystal praised their late sister’s successful career in an interview.

After graduating from Syracuse University with a TV, Film and Production degree, Jenean began working for Sarah Ferguson as her personal assistant.

'She was a force to be reckoned with, she was a role model. She was an amazing person, and I still look up to her. I always look up to her as like what I wanted to accomplish in my corporate career,' Nicole said.


‘She was just an accomplished intellectual,’ she added. ‘She was a kind person and compassionate. She had a heart of mush.’

You can look at the Duchess post here:



Key Takeaways
  • Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has paid an emotional tribute to her former personal assistant, Jenean Chapman, who was reportedly murdered in Texas.
  • Chapman, who was found dead in a downtown Dallas apartment, had been working for Ferguson after graduating from Syracuse University.
  • James Patrick, aged 48, has been arrested and charged with Chapman’s murder.
  • Chapman's sisters, Nicole and Crystal, said they were 'blindsided' by the news of their sister's death and Patrick's arrest.

What do you think of this story, members? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
 
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The US is not the only country with guns all over the place and freely available. Just look, and listen to the news here in Australia now. Not a single day goes by without us hearing of yet another shooting particularly in Sydney and Melbourne and even some other cities. We hear of cars being stolen then smashed up or burned, most of them by young people (some not yet teenagers) and so often they go for the luxury cars.

Our world, our country is following in the footsteps of so many other countries, murders, shootings, injuries to others, drugs, scamming the elderly of life savings, etc. God help us all and I hope he keeps every one of us seniors safe and on his priority list. Stay safe members.
 
The US is not the only country with guns all over the place and freely available. Just look, and listen to the news here in Australia now. Not a single day goes by without us hearing of yet another shooting particularly in Sydney and Melbourne and even some other cities. We hear of cars being stolen then smashed up or burned, most of them by young people (some not yet teenagers) and so often they go for the luxury cars.

Our world, our country is following in the footsteps of so many other countries, murders, shootings, injuries to others, drugs, scamming the elderly of life savings, etc. God help us all and I hope he keeps every one of us seniors safe and on his priority list. Stay safe members.
I see that . It's all around me I live in Roselands and all these shootings are in surrounding areas.
The difference is these are organised crime so will know where to get guns.
With the story in the article it was her husband, if there was a gun ban like we have in Australia then just maybe he wouldn't have had a gun.
 
It’s not only an organised crime situation Suzanne rose - youngsters are also managing to get guns & do not seem to care little about others, going around with machetes, kitchen knives, baseball bats,etc. I came to Australia in 1965 but the last few years (part of the 70s, then the 80s, 90s upto now) have seen such a rise in crime. I fear for my three grandchildren’s lives - they are just 21, almost 19 & almost 17. I do blame a lot of parents for a slack upbringing because their parents seem to want, want, want so they must go to work and children are left to their own devices. My grandchildren, thank God, are well brought up and controlled, but I hate to think what lies ahead of their adult lives. They don’t even backchat anyone and are very polite.
 
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It’s not only an organised crime situation Suzanne rose - youngsters are also managing to get guns & do not seem to care little about others, going around with machetes, kitchen knives, baseball bats,etc. I came to Australia in 1965 but the last few years (part of the 70s, then the 80s, 90s upto now) have seen such a rise in crime. I fear for my three grandchildren’s lives - they are just 21, almost 19 & almost 17. I do blame a lot of parents for a slack upbringing because their parents seem to want, want, want so they must go to work and children are left to their own devices. My grandchildren, thank God, are well brought up and controlled, but I hate to think what lies ahead of their adult lives. They don’t even backchat anyone and are very polite.
Australia has had a large intake of migrants from different cultures since the 80s.
I am far from racist, ( I'm married to a Greek) I grew up in a Sydney suburb being Peakhurst which was all Australian's.
I moved in the 80s to a suburb not far away where we purchased our first home and was also predominantly Aussies then overnight we had a huge influx of migrants from Moslem countries and then crime started to rise drastically. Alot of break ins. Armed assaults , this was the beginning of our streets not being safe to walk in.
We had a close friend that was a Sargent at a nearby police station and the perpetrators of these crimes were the recent immigrants.
He said they came from a country of war and this was their way of survival and sadly some not all brought these life styles with them.

With all the crimes happening in my area now and that are on the news it's a know fact that it is middle eastern gangs .

You need to also look at the gangs in Melbourne to see who is behind those . One being African and the other Middle Eastern

Maybe the government needed to educate them o our life style before setting them free.

I hate sounding racist but it's the truth
 
Australia has had a large intake of migrants from different cultures since the 80s.
I am far from racist, ( I'm married to a Greek) I grew up in a Sydney suburb being Peakhurst which was all Australian's.
I moved in the 80s to a suburb not far away where we purchased our first home and was also predominantly Aussies then overnight we had a huge influx of migrants from Moslem countries and then crime started to rise drastically. Alot of break ins. Armed assaults , this was the beginning of our streets not being safe to walk in.
We had a close friend that was a Sargent at a nearby police station and the perpetrators of these crimes were the recent immigrants.
He said they came from a country of war and this was their way of survival and sadly some not all brought these life styles with them.

With all the crimes happening in my area now and that are on the news it's a know fact that it is middle eastern gangs .

You need to also look at the gangs in Melbourne to see who is behind those . One being African and the other Middle Eastern

Maybe the government needed to educate them o our life style before setting them free.

I hate sounding racist but it's the truth
They aren’t animals! No-one sets them free!!!! So glad that you’re not racist and married a good “wog” boy. Just because you marry outside of your nationality doesn’t prove you’re not racist against other nationalities and religions. DONT get me wrong - I don’t know you and so am not calling you racist from one reply to an article but your wording may need rephrasing.
 
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Australia has had a large intake of migrants from different cultures since the 80s.
I am far from racist, ( I'm married to a Greek) I grew up in a Sydney suburb being Peakhurst which was all Australian's.
I moved in the 80s to a suburb not far away where we purchased our first home and was also predominantly Aussies then overnight we had a huge influx of migrants from Moslem countries and then crime started to rise drastically. Alot of break ins. Armed assaults , this was the beginning of our streets not being safe to walk in.
We had a close friend that was a Sargent at a nearby police station and the perpetrators of these crimes were the recent immigrants.
He said they came from a country of war and this was their way of survival and sadly some not all brought these life styles with them.

With all the crimes happening in my area now and that are on the news it's a know fact that it is middle eastern gangs .

You need to also look at the gangs in Melbourne to see who is behind those . One being African and the other Middle Eastern

Maybe the government needed to educate them o our life style before setting them free.

I hate sounding racist but it's the truth
Totally agree with you, most of the gang violence we hear about is from people from different cultures to us. I am not racist either but can’t help wondering why some of these criminals were allowed to come to Australia, surely a lot of them had criminal records before they got here, doesn’t this get checked and if not why not? I live in a country area but serious crimes like home invasions are happening in these areas too now. Perpetrators are getting younger and younger and don’t seem to care about anyone, not even themselves. There needs to be much harsher penalties given for these crimes.
 
They aren’t animals! No-one sets them free!!!! So glad that you’re not racist and married a good “wog” boy. Just because you marry outside of your nationality doesn’t prove you’re not racist against other nationalities and religions. DONT get me wrong - I don’t know you and so am not calling you racist from one reply to an article but your wording may need rephrasing.
You must not live in an area like mine. I'm stating the facts and these are also the words of a police officer in our area.

Explain why we are seeing different gangs made up 100 % of Africans in Melbourne . Gangs of 100 % islanders in Sydney as well as gangs 100% middle eastern .

Growing up it was Aussie Bikies who if you didn't do wrong by them they left you alone. They never committed home invasions ect .

It started in the 80s with immigration.

I have a Moari son inlaw plus a Sirian son inlaw so I'm not racist but I do believe you come to our country then you respect it and our way of life
 
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Totally agree with you, most of the gang violence we hear about is from people from different cultures to us. I am not racist either but can’t help wondering why some of these criminals were allowed to come to Australia, surely a lot of them had criminal records before they got here, doesn’t this get checked and if not why not? I live in a country area but serious crimes like home invasions are happening in these areas too now. Perpetrators are getting younger and younger and don’t seem to care about anyone, not even themselves. There needs to be much harsher penalties given for these crimes.
Totally agree. Different cultures are so different to ours and what we see as wrong they don't only because they have had to fight for survival
 
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So many of the kids lately committing crimes against other people are so young ! Many of them maybe just trying to fit in with older crims ? I don’t know, I’m just glad my kids and grandkids all grew up in a better society. Praying that my great grandkids grow up in a much better times than now.
 
I see that . It's all around me I live in Roselands and all these shootings are in surrounding areas.
The difference is these are organised crime so will know where to get guns.
With the story in the article it was her husband, if there was a gun ban like we have in Australia then just maybe he wouldn't have had a gun.
I cannot find where it says she was shot?

So many of the kids lately committing crimes against other people are so young ! Many of them maybe just trying to fit in with older crims ? I don’t know, I’m just glad my kids and grandkids all grew up in a better society. Praying that my great grandkids grow up in a much better times than now.
 
I cannot find where it says she was shot?
It all started when we decided children had rights but no responsibilities. Prents were no longer allowed to discipline (without resorting to violence). Bureaucrats decided that children were not aware of right and wrong. BS Courts and judges are too lenient.
 
Sit down & think of your own heritage, members. Most of us have backgrounds where our ancestors came here long ago or are of different cultural origins. We call ourselves Australian because some were probably born here and our children were born here, but the only TRUE Australians are the full blood aborigines. The rest of us are of ‘mixed origins’ and are only CITIZENS by birth in this country or by naturalisation after a set period post migration. Naturalisation still happens after migration & all of a sudden people start calling themselves ‘Australian’. Because I have a slight accent people ask where I’m from, my response is “I’m from *** but have been here since 1965”. I was ‘naturalised & given citizenship in 1972 but my country of birth is still ***, I cannot change that and neither can I make my skin any darker to fit the true inhabitants of my country of birth.

Crime is not just being perpetrated by migrants - very many are the so-called white youth of Australia both male & female, and they are as young as 10 in some cases, stealing cars & bashing people up. This crime should sit heavily on the shoulders of a lot of parents.
 
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They aren’t animals! No-one sets them free!!!! So glad that you’re not racist and married a good “wog” boy. Just because you marry outside of your nationality doesn’t prove you’re not racist against other nationalities and religions. DONT get me wrong - I don’t know you and so am not calling you racist from one reply to an article but your wording may need rephrasing.
Your being discriminatory by using the name wog
 
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Totally agree with you, most of the gang violence we hear about is from people from different cultures to us. I am not racist either but can’t help wondering why some of these criminals were allowed to come to Australia, surely a lot of them had criminal records before they got here, doesn’t this get checked and if not why not? I live in a country area but serious crimes like home invasions are happening in these areas too now. Perpetrators are getting younger and younger and don’t seem to care about anyone, not even themselves. There needs to be much harsher penalties given for these crimes.
Criminal records are checked frequently at airports if a person is suspected of having a ‘dodgy’ background but there will always be some that escape that check. And a person’s culture or heritage does not make them a criminal. I agree that penalties need to be harsher, much harsher, and punishment of youth needs to be seriously looked at as they are getting far too young.
 
You must not live in an area like mine. I'm stating the facts and these are also the words of a police officer in our area.

Explain why we are seeing different gangs made up 100 % of Africans in Melbourne . Gangs of 100 % islanders in Sydney as well as gangs 100% middle eastern .

Growing up it was Aussie Bikies who if you didn't do wrong by them they left you alone. They never committed home invasions ect .

It started in the 80s with immigration.

I have a Moari son inlaw plus a Sirian son inlaw so I'm not racist but I do believe you come to our country then you respect it and our way of life
Don't change your phrazing Suzanne I think most people understand what your saying
 

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