A smile that lit up every room.
That’s how his devastated friends and family remember Sean Lange.
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He was 34 years old, a standout in his time at Northeast High School in Oakland Park. When he was murdered near Washington, D.C. in August, it also sent shockwaves to South Florida.
“This is just, completely shocking to the system, it’s very hard to deal with,” said Laura Lange, Sean’s mother and a former teacher at Northeast High.
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Police say David Phillip Turner drove from Miami to Maryland to murder his ex-wife, Crimea Baker, and her boyfriend, Sean Lange. They were shot dozens of times, with Baker’s three kids that she had with Turner cowering inside the house, along with Lange’s toddler.
When asked if she had any idea what Turner’s motive could have been, Laura Lange said she has "no idea."
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“I’ve never heard of him before, I don’t know, but clearly, he’s a terrible person. He drove all the way from Miami to Maryland, so he had plenty of time to think about it,” she said. “He did this terrible crime and he left his own three children in the house to find their mother, so that’s pretty horrific. I would say he’s ruined a lot of lives and also his own.”
Sean Lange was a track star at Northeast High School and ran track for the University of Kentucky as a scholarship athlete. He then joined the Army and became an executive chef at the Pentagon, with plans to join the U.S. Secret Service.
Laura Lange told us her son overcame a lot of childhood challenges.
“We adopted Sean from Children’s Home Society in Fort Lauderdale when he was five years old,” Lange said. “He had a lot to give and he was very positive and upbeat, very bright personality, and so to lose all of that when he had to overcome so much is just devastating.”
The family set up a GoFundMe account to support Sean’s children. He had three kids from his first marriage, four in total. His mother said they’re having difficulty coping with the loss of their father.
She also said that once the accused killer is extradited from the Broward County Jail to Maryland, the family will attend the trial to support their son.
Sean Lange was buried in South Florida National Cemetery, with full military honors.
