WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Two men are behind bars and now charged with the murder of Blaine Whitworth, who was gunned down in front of his Warrensburg home Saturday night.
Blaine’s family says they are relieved there’s been an arrest, and they’re thankful to the Rural Major Case Squad for its work.
The Whitworth family lives in Garden City, south east of Harrisonville. Blaine’s parents say they moved there almost 20 years ago because they wanted their children to grow up in that small town atmosphere. That small town sense of helping people and taking care of people in your community clearly meant something to Blaine.
His parents say Blaine was the kind of person people liked to be around. He was a leader and, yes, sometimes a trouble maker.
“I wondered why all the kids wanted to hang out with Blaine all night,” his dad Barry remembers. “Well, about 2 a.m. they would head out in the pick-up to cruise around the county.”
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In 2004 he was a leader for change in his high school cafeteria, and FOX 4 even covered it. He led a boycott of the school cafeteria to improve the lunch menu.
“He eventually got the school to work with them and improve,” says Barry. “So, if there was a challenge he’d step up to it.”
After graduating from UCM in Warrensburg, Blaine took on another challenge: working as a safety inspector on an oil rig. But after a few years he returned to Warrensburg to follow his dream of being a businessman.
He re-opened the once popular bar “Bodies” and soon after opened the bar he named for his grandmother, “Molly’s.”
“So much work to do but that was the challenge,” says his mother Diane. “It was always a challenge for him.”
“He was always dreaming big,” says Tyler, Blaine’s brother. “It was on the back of his “Molly’s” shirts, was “Go Big or Go Home.”
His family says Blaine would often find work for someone down on their luck. He helped a man get his GED, he took in more than one person who had no where to live.
“He just wanted to make a difference,” says Tyler. “It wasn’t about money. He was never going to be rich — it was about making a difference. I just hope those people, the lives he’s touched, that those people will take what he’s done for them and do the same in their lives. And always remember it’s not about yourself, it’s about helping those around you.”
