Searching for a way to describe his friend, Kim Yvette, Bubba McNeely could come up with only word that painted a true picture.
“ An angel,” he said. “She was an angel.”

McNeely and hundreds of gays and lesbians in Houston struggled in recent days to come to grips with how Yvette and her husband, Brian Dobbs, died.

A straight woman whose first love was gospel music, Yvette was a frequent performer at fundraisers and events in the gay and lesbian community, where she usually performed popular tunes and rhythm and blues.

“She was from all walks of life,” Bubba McNeely said.

Knowing Yvette and her husband were found beaten to death last Saturday inside their Stafford townhouse made the struggle to reconcile the deaths all the more difficult for friends.

Police on Tuesday arrested a suspect in the case and announced on Wednesday that 20-year-old Richard Reynol White, Jr., who had stayed at the Dobbs home, had confessed to the two slayings. He has been charged with two counts of murder.

Police said the couple, found by relatives on Saturday, died from blunt-force trauma caused by multiple blows.

News of the tragedy came as a shock to those who knew Yvette and her husband. Jerry Atwood, a keyboard player who had accompanied Yvette during a Wednesday night performance at the Briar Patch, said the evening was, “Magical. We had one of the best nights we’ve ever had. She was like a superstar. It was a great evening. I’m just sorry it had to be her last.”

When the bodies of the couple were found on Saturday, Atwood said, Yvette was still wearing the dress she had worn at the Briar Patch.

“She went home, and this was what she was met with,” he said.

McNeely said Yvette’s family learned from police that Brian Dobbs was killed in an upstairs bedroom of he townhouse about three hours before his wife arrived home.

The suspect told investigators he and Dobbs got into a fight and he struck Dobbs on the head.

McNeely said after driving from Houston to Stafford, Yvette entered the home and, “When she got to the top of the stairs, he (White) met her and hit her over the head.”

McNeely said Yvette tumbled down the stairs, and White followed her.

“She looked up at him and said, ‘I forgive you,’” McNeely said.

He said White was unnerved by Yvette’s words and went to get her a drink of water.

McNeely said White lifted her head to give her the water and she again said, “I forgive you,” before she died.

“That’s just the kind of person she was,” he said. “Even in the most traumatic moment of her life, her first thought was to forgive him.”

Police in Stafford have not said what the motive may have been, but friends in Houston were aware that Yvette was uneasy regarding White.

“Kim had been displeased with his presence in their home,” Atwood said.

Yvette, who has won gospel music awards and cut two albums, was the mother of jazz pianist Robert Glasper.

She and Dobbs were co-pastors of Dunamus Word Ministries. In addition to her work with the ministry, Yvette worked with other churches and ministries as musical director. She was the founder of the Missouri City Mass Choir.

During the Stellar Gospel Awards earlier this year in Houston, Yvette was asked to perform at the Hilton Americas Hotel. While performing there, she started singing a Patti LaBelle tune when she saw the singer walk into the room.

Friends said LaBelle joined her and the two finished the number together.

“She was able to fly totally by the seat of her pants and make any song different from its original style,” Atwood said.

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