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Apostolic Girl Slain After Youth Event
By Cara Davis
April 20, 2005

Sarah Michelle Lunde was not unlike many kids who come to The Pentecostals of Apopka from the Florida Disrict for our youth conference called Fusion (formerly known as Variety). Lunde lived close to Tampa and had been attending Bro. Johnny Cook’s church, The First Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Ruskin, Florida, for nearly three years.

Lunde had found a haven in this church community, where she had friends and most importantly experienced the presence of God. She had a less-than-desirable family background but somehow became connected to this 50-member church and rarely missed a service. Several church families took turns picking her up at her family's trailer home.

Lunde joined with her friends and youth pastor, Matt Fontana, who drove to Apopka, Florida, for Fusion, April 8-9 where 1,000 other kids from the state gathered to hear music and preaching geared toward 12-18 year olds. The overnight conference included pizza, games and karaoke until 1 a.m. at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando after the service, the same place the NBA team, the Orlando Magic, practices.

Saturday morning’s service kicked off with the local youth choir performing upbeat and worshipful songs, followed by the special musical guests, The Tyler Walea Band from Louisiana. As the service became worship-focused, these young adults experienced a sweeping move of God, flooding the aisles and altars and crying out to God. The guest minister, Bro. Steve Warman of Pontiac, Michigan, decided to forego his message and instead joined the host of youth pastors attending who prayed over the scores of people seeking the power of God. Many were filled with the Holy Ghost.

It’s hard to say exactly how Sarah Lunde was touched and affected by this service. It’s hard to say how many new people she met or who prayed with her that afternoon. No one knew that this was the last service she’d ever experience. No one knew this beautiful sweeping presence of God would be one of the final moments of her life.

Her youth pastor dropped Lunde off at her family’s trailer later that evening as they arrived home. That was the last time she was seen alive.

Exactly one week later, her partially clothed body was found in a pond about a half-mile from her home.

David Lee Onstott, 36, was charged with first-degree murder in Lunde's death after confessing late Saturday, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said, according to the Associated Press reports.

Onstott was Lunde’s mother’s ex-boyfriend and had unexpectedly showed up at the family's trailer home after the girl returned from Fusion. He said he got into an argument with her and choked her to death in her home. Onstott had been convicted of rape in 1995 and served six years in prison. Onstott has been held without bail in the Hillsborough County Jail since Tuesday on an unrelated charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Lunde's brother and mother at first assumed she had gone to a friend's house and didn’t report her missing until April 11.

Lunde’s relatives joined her church community to mourn. The church was packed to capacity. Among the mourners was Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica was found dead last month after she was kidnapped from their Citrus County home, and Roy Brown, whose daughter Amanda was murdered in 1997 by convicted child molester Willie Crain.

Youth pastor Fontana told the mourners, which included about 20 of Lunde’s relatives, that the thing Lunde desired most was to bring her friends and family to church. "It's ironic that not until she goes to be with the Lord that she got her wish," he said.

"People asked me: 'Why did she come here? Why did she spend her time here?'” said Fontana. "Because she found love here … Now she's in heaven."

Information from the St. Petersburg Times and The Associated Press was used in this report.

ninetyandnine.com

© 2005, Cara Davis

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Cara Davis is the Associate Editor of ninetyandnine.com and attends the Pentecostals of Apopka in Apopka, Florida.