Two years after triple murder, family of slain minister waits for justice

The Rev. James “Tripp” Battle’s family will spend Sunday remembering the good times they shared together.

But the Battle family will not gather at the church where he was once a pastor — and where he was gunned down on Dec. 4, 2014 — because it is too painful, his mother Rhonda Battle said.

“It is very difficult,” Battle said. “It is very difficult to even drive by the church.”

Sunday marks two years since Battle, Amber Avalos, 33, and Denise Potter, 46, were killed. Their suspected killer, Andres “Andy” Avalos Jr., 35, faces three counts of first-degree murder for their slayings. He is being held without bond in the Manatee County jail.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

“As we enter into our second year without our son, Tripp, we find that it’s far more difficult than we would have ever thought possible,” Battle’s parents, Rhonda and Jimmy Battle, said in a statement. “Tripp was such a blessing to us and others as he touched the lives of so many people with his eagerness to share the Gospel of Christ.”

Sometimes she just wants to pick up the phone and call her son, Rhonda Battle shared. It’s not fair that he is not here to be with his wife and two children, she says.

But during their planned special family time Sunday, they will share their favorite stories about him.

“My brother being gone for two years now has just reassured everything he was to me. Tripp was my lifelong best friend, protector and adviser on everything in life,” Battle’s sister, Ashley Battle, said in a statement. “I was hoping it would be easier by now, but I’m still waiting to wake up from this nightmare. He is deeply missed.”

Justice moves slow

Two years after the slayings of Avalos’ wife, neighbor and the pastor of the church where his wife worked, his defense team is hoping a jury will find he was insane at the time of the killings.

According to court records, expert witnesses for the defense found that Avalos suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, a delusional disorder, a mild neurocognitive disorder, an abnormal brain and reduced cognitive, emotional and personality controls based on abnormal brain functioning.

Avalos is set to stand trial beginning May 8.

His attorneys also intend to use an insanity defense for a separate case in which Avalos is charged with the attempted murder of another inmate at the Manatee County jail.

Detectives say that on Dec. 4, 2014, Avalos, 35, hanged his wife, Amber, with a cord in the laundry room in their Northwest Bradenton home, beat her face and shot her in the chest. Investigators say he then shot their neighbor, Potter, multiple times in a hallway of the home.

During the slayings of both women, the Avaloses’ then 4-year-old son was home.

Investigators say Avalos then dropped off the boy at day care and drove to the Wal-Mart Supercenter on State Road 64 East, where he left his vehicle and took a taxi to Bayshore Baptist Church, 6502 14th St. W.

For about 20 minutes, Avalos sat in the church’s business office rambling to Pastor Battle’s wife, Joy Battle, about how the “world was evil.” Battle called to check on his wife during that time, and learned that Avalos was there.

Moments later, the pastor was approaching the church office when Avalos left, slamming the door behind him, Battle’s wife told detectives. She immediately heard multiple gunshots, and saw her husband fall to the ground and Avalos walk away.

An investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Investigative Unit was underway at the church when detectives were alerted by a relative of Avalos about the bodies of the other victims. Avalos had called his relative, told him there were two bodies in his home and hung up, detectives said.

When deputies responded to the 1200 block of 67th Street Northwest in Bradenton, they found the bodies of the two women.

A 51-hour manhunt led by the sheriff’s office ensued before Avalos was arrested.

On Dec. 6, 2014, a few hours after his father made a public plea begging him to turn himself in for the sake of his six children, the suspected killer appeared on the wooden deck behind a mobile home in the Pine Haven Mobile Home Park, 6320 14th St. W., just a couple of blocks from the Bayshore Baptist Church.

Avalos told the couple who lived in the mobile home that he wanted to speak to his mother. Recognizing who he was, they urged him to surrender.

When they called 911, a caravan of deputies and detectives sped over to the mobile home. Residents in the quiet neighborhood watched as they drew their guns and semi-automatic weapons, and held up shields.

Without resisting, Avalos was arrested and taken to the sheriff’s office, where he would give detectives a detailed confession, according to a prosecutor.

Avalos was later indicted on three counts of first-degree murder.

Struggles with defense

Most recently, Avalos was in court Sept. 6 after having made a request to Circuit Judge Diana Moreland, presiding over his case, to dismiss his attorney and appoint him a new one.

In his request, Avalos wrote that his new team of lawyers from the Office of Regional Counsel was going in a different direction than his previous team from the Public Defender’s Office, causing conflicts.

“On top of having only one sit-down with my P.I. in nine months, there are many other issues that I feel need looking into and they are just not doing this thing,” Avalos wrote. “They tell me things to make me feel that we are working together but the truth is that it has been nine months and they are just not working with me.”

During the hearing, Avalos told Moreland he “felt nervous” because of the approaching trial and the direction his new defense was going, according to a court order. But Avalos then decided that he would stay with his current defense team, telling the judge he felt that they could “work together.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Two years after triple murder, family of slain minister waits for justice."