How Michelle Hord Is Finding Peace After Her 7-Year-Old Daughter’s Murder

How Michelle Hord Is Finding Peace After The Tragic Murder Of Her 7-year-old Daughter

The former Good Morning America producer went through the unthinkable when her then-husband, Neil White, murdered their 7-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, in 2017.

Michelle’s story is now being told in a new memoir, The Other Side of Yet: Finding Light in the Midst of Darkness.

On April 13, she appeared on E! News’ Daily Pop to discuss the book and reflect on the tragedy, which she describes as occurring during her “tumultuous divorce.”

Her ex finally agreed to sign the divorce papers in June 2017, but by then, she said, “there was so much friction” between the two that she was living in a rental house.

On June 6, “I got this call from my nanny with this bloodcurdling scream, and it was clear she was at a crime scene,” she says.

“I went into a little room and shut the door… got on my knees and said, “God, I don’t know what I’m walking into, but whatever it is, please just give me the strength to deal with it.” Michelle continued.

She soon discovered that her daughter had died of suffocation.

Neil was found guilty of the murder two years later and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Neil, on the other hand, is not mentioned in The Other Side of Yet. “I chose not to use his real name in the book because I believe that person no longer exists,” Michelle explained.

That isn’t to say she doesn’t forgive him. “Forgiveness, to me, is about someone seeking forgiveness, which is not the case,” Michelle explained.

But, more importantly, it’s about reconciliation, and my way of making peace has been to reconnect with his mother, Gabrielle’s grandmother, who not only lost a grandchild but had her only child do this to her only grandchild.”

Michelle went on to say that this reconciliation “has been the olive branch that has meant the most.”

They’ve even started going to church together, which has been an important part of her healing process. I believe that being tethered—whether to a god, the universe, mother nature, or something larger than yourself—helps you when you want to float away.”

When this happened, it was clear that this was worse than my worst nightmare—who did it, how it happened—and I felt like there was something in this universe trying to take me out,” Michelle explained.

But the rebellious ‘Damnit, I’m not going to let that happen’ in me said, ‘I shall not be moved.’ Whatever it is, I’m not going down without a fight. I’m not going down without a fight. ‘”

And she hasn’t done so. Instead, Michelle not only wrote “The Other Side of Yet” but also founded Gabrielle’s Wings, a non-profit organization in her daughter’s honor.

As a mother, it was important to me that the work and legacy in her name be ten times bigger than what happened to her, she explained.

More information about Gabrielle’s Wings can be found here. The Other Side of Yet: Finding Light in the Midst of Darkness by Michelle Hord is available wherever books are sold.