Man killed by stranger in NE Wichita remembered for trying to minister to the homeless

A 54-year-old Wichita man killed Friday in northeast Wichita was a recovering addict on a mission to bring others away from that life and into the arms of Jesus.

Merrill Rabus spent most of his life battling addiction and the fallout that comes with it: homelessness, troubled family relationships and stints in jail. But his life turned around in the mid-2010s, people close to him said. He was sitting in a jail cell, listening to a Bible study when he heard God call to him, according to a Union Rescue Mission story about Rabus’ turnaround.

“I had a dramatic awakening that almost knocked me off my stool,” he said.

He left jail and went to the mission, where he entered, and in 2019 graduated from, a program aimed at helping with homelessness and addiction. He moved into transitional housing and eventually took a job at the mission’s bookstore, New Leaf Book Mercantile, for a few years.

He started to share his faith every chance he got, the story said.

“I don’t worry about what others think of me anymore … All I need is God,” he said. “I was spiritually lost, but now I’m found. My purpose is in Christ.”

His faith is something that brings Melisha Oakleaf-Wilson comfort, knowing where she says he is now.

The 30-year-old first met Rabus when she was 15 and meeting her biological mother for the first time. Rabus was married to her biological mother — they were both active users at the time, she said.

She remembered he was a quiet, muscular man with tattoos.

She moved away from the area and reconnected with Rabus after moving back in 2016. Her mother had died in a wreck years earlier, but Rabus, who was sober then, told her he still wanted to be part of her life.

“Since then, it’s been mostly more of a … if I need anything he is there,” she said. “A pretty awesome, more friendship; less parent-style relationship.”

But she still considers him her stepfather.

Even when he was financially doing well, he lived a simpler life than his means allowed, she said.

“He didn’t live anywhere (permanently) because he was waiting to be called to his next place,” she said. “He really didn’t have a care in the world, because he knew he was saved and it was his mission to try and save others.”

Travis Cox, a friend of Rabus when they were both in addiction and carrying over into sobriety, posted photos and a video of Rabus on Facebook following his death Friday afternoon.

The video shows Rabus singing praises and photos show Rabus, bald and missing a front tooth, smiling with his arm around Cox. In one photo, Rabus is wearing a T-shirt that says “JESUS” and “BECAUSE OF HIM.”

“Everything he would get, he would give it away,” Cox said, adding that he wanted to stay connected with homeless people because “he felt like that is where God wanted him.”

He moved to an apartment several months ago and started buying up old bicycles and selling them, he said, adding he would also give them away to homeless people.

Rabus was riding a bicycle across the street Friday afternoon at 13th and Oliver when police say he was hit by 31-year-old Charity Charmon Blackmon, who was driving a van. Police said she then got out of the van and shot Rabus. She was arrested soon after the incident on a few charges, including suspicion of first-degree murder.

“His death was tragic, but his life is eternal,” Union Rescue Mission CEO Doug Nolte said in a news release. “(Rabus) is the type of person who would forgive; he was forgiven and never took that for granted.”

Oakleaf-Wilson said it’s disturbing how her stepfather died, but she feels peace knowing Rabus is where he wanted to be.

“I am more comforted knowing he is in a better place,” Oakleaf-Wilson said.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover funeral costs at bit.ly/3u52srk.

This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 3:11 PM.