7/21/2009
By COURTNEY LOONEY/Salina Journal
BELOIT -- Monica Carr said she received a text message from her brother Warren Pilcher on Monday morning saying, "Diane is in heaven."

"Diane," was Diane Sibley, who according to Beloit police was found "unconscious and nonresponsive in the alley of the 100 block of South Mill" in Beloit after she was run over between midnight and 2:11 a.m. Saturday. Sibley died Monday morning at St. Francis Via Christi in Wichita.

Carr referred to Sibley as her brother's wife, although they were not married.

They had been together for 16 years.

Carr, of Wichita, said Sibley had been at Beloit's Eagle's Club, where she had been a longtime bartender. She was not working that night.

As she was leaving Saturday morning, she was believed to have been struck by a large vehicle, Carr said.

"(The car) completely ran over the top of her," Carr said. "One side of her ribs were shattered, her other ribs were broken, she had a broken arm, broken collar bone, punctured lungs, internal bleeding, lacerations; she made it all the way through till about eight o'clock (Monday) morning."

The Beloit Police Department said Monday afternoon an autopsy would be performed and that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation would research some physical evidence found at the scene.

Carr said a couple of children on bicycles discovered Sibley's body about 2 a.m. Saturday and called police. Sibley was taken to the Mitchell County Hospital in Beloit, then flown to St. Francis Via Christi.

She was a tough lady

Carr said they had hoped for Sibley to recover but didn't want to see her suffer.

"She was a tough lady," Carr said. "If anybody was ever going to pull through something like this, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was her. But in the end, we weren't praying for her to survive anymore -- we were just praying for her to go peacefully."

Sibley had four children, and Carr said she was a very proud grandmother.

"Her big thing was her grandbabies," Carr said. "She adored her grandbabies.

"The last time I got to see her she was all about them and every specific little thing that stuck out to her about each one of them. She kept her family close."

Carr said the hardest thing for the family is watching one another suffer and questioning what happened.

"We just want to know who did this and what happened," Carr said. "People are telling me it has become a thing in Beloit to look at the front and back of every vehicle you pass to see if there is any damage."

Police Chief Frank Gent said people with information are strongly encouraged to call the Beloit Police Department at (785) 738-2203 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-999-1514.

Tips also can be sent online by logging onto the Mitchell County Crime Stopper Web site at www.mccrimestoppers.org. A cash reward of up to $1,000 could be received if a tip leads to an arrest.

Carr said no words can describe the family's emotions.

"We're all still in disbelief," she said. "Someone took her away from her kids and the entire family."

Had plans to marry

Speaking by phone, Carr sobbed as she told how Pilcher and Sibley had big plans for their future -- plans that will never happen.

"After 16 years, they were talking about leaving Beloit and going to get married," Carr said. "It was not too long ago they told me that. Someone didn't just take her -- they took my brother's future, my brother's life, his grandbabies' grandma."

Carr said her brother returned to Beloit on Monday morning after Sibley's death, where he, like the rest of Beloit and Sibley's family, will wait for answers.

"He said he had to go back to Beloit today," Carr said. "He needed to go home. He needed to be around her. He told me he was going to turn his music all the way up so he couldn't hear his thoughts.

"She wasn't just a bartender. She didn't just handle the drunks or sit and listen to the people that needed to talk. She was a huge part of the community. There are no words to describe this. She was one of those people who worked hard for everything's she's ever had her entire life and for something like this to happen is terrible."

n Reporter Courtney Looney can be reached at 823-6464, ext. 153 or by e-mail at clooney@salina.com.