"It’s too difficult, I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this"- When Serena Williams' father Richard was 'scarred' by daughter Yetunde Price's murder

Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard once shared his heartbreak over the tragic death of his stepdaughter, Yetunde Price. He revealed that he was so devastated by the loss that he couldn’t bring himself to enter her chapel, choosing to stay outside instead.

Price was the daughter of the Williams sisters' mother, Oracene, from her marriage to Yusef Rasheed. She was shot and killed on September 14, 2003, in Compton, California, at just 31 years old. The incident took place while she was sitting in her SUV with her boyfriend near a known drug house.

The shooter, Robert Edward Maxfield, a member of the Southside Crips gang, was eventually convicted of voluntary manslaughter after two mistrials and served 12 years of a 15-year sentence before being released in 2018. Her death deeply impacted the Williams family, and in her memory, Serena and Venus established the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton to support victims of violence.

In a September 2003 interview with the New York Post, Richard Williams became emotional as he spoke about Yetunde Price's death. He said:

“I wouldn’t go inside because I thought it would be too much for my heart. I stayed outside until it was over with. I’m not going through this OK. It’s just too difficult. I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this. It’ll always be a scar."

The former tennis coach shared that Venus and Serena Williams attended Yetunde Price's funeral. He also revealed that he went back to the crime scene afterward, hoping to make sense of what had happened.

"You can see it in the expression in their faces. You only get some closure . . . when someone is made to pay for this,” he said.