{"id":6499,"date":"2013-12-30T16:58:52","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T21:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=6499"},"modified":"2013-12-31T04:19:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T09:19:21","slug":"restaurant-of-slain-ethiopian-migrants-kept-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/6499","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Restaurant of Slain Ethiopian Migrants Kept Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The tale of the Dallas Ethiopian restaurant Desta, is one of tragedy, hard work and ultimately, of love.<\/p>\n

Husband and wife owners Yayehyirad \u201cYared\u201d Lemma, 40, and Yenenesh \u201cYenni\u201d Desta, 31, were shot and killed in 2012 by a customer who became obsessed with Yenni Desta. Their killer was convicted last December and will spend his life behind bars with no chance of parole.<\/p>\n

The story \u2014 and perhaps the restaurant \u2014 could have ended with the brutal killings on the couple\u2019s front porch. But their family \u2014 mainly Lemma\u2019s two sisters \u2014 keeps Desta operating with the same love and hard work, hoping to create a legacy for the young son, now 3, that the couple left behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not our story,\u201d said Lemma\u2019s sister Tizeta Getachew, who left her job running a domestic violence shelter to manage the restaurant. \u201cThis is their story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant \u2014 in a strip center on Greenville Avenue between Interstate 635 and Forest Lane \u2014 offers traditional Ethiopian food with a twist. Lemma, who with his wife was from Ethiopia, enjoyed tweaking the food with a different spice or changing the cooking style. That tradition continues today.<\/p>\n

Lemma\u2019s other sister, Yemi Lemma, handles marketing for the restaurant at night and on the weekends. She lives near Houston, where marketing is also her day job, and comes to Dallas when she can.<\/p>\n

Other relatives pitch in when needed. An aunt can often be found cooking, and Lemma\u2019s mother may stop by to chop vegetables.<\/p>\n

Yared Lemma and Desta put long hours into their dream. The couple gutted the inside of the building themselves before opening the restaurant, and their son was born just as it opened.<\/p>\n

Yared Lemma was quiet and shy and liked to work behind the scenes. Desta was a friendly, welcoming presence at the restaurant that bears her name. Getachew said that, to this day, Desta remains \u201cthe cornerstone of this place.\u201d She was known to visit every table to chat with customers.<\/p>\n

The sisters say that stepping away from the restaurant would diminish the legacy of their brother and sister-in-law, who both women say was more like a true sister than a relative by marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen their son asked me [years from now] what had happened to the restaurant, what would I say? That I was so sad or so weak from grief that was so strong, I let it go?\u201d asked Yemi Lemma. \u201cThat was too much to even think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family asked that the couple\u2019s son, who was born prematurely and weighing just over a pound, not be named. They often just call him \u201cthe little one.\u201d He is being raised by Yared Lemma\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

Exactly why Abey Belette Girma, 38, killed the couple is a mystery. At trial, Dallas County prosecutor Jerry Varney told jurors that Girma, who is also from Ethiopia, became obsessed with Desta even though he knew her only because he ate at the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Girma followed the couple home one night in August 2012 after they locked up the restaurant and headed home, where Lemma\u2019s mother cared for their son. When they reached the front porch of their house in Dallas\u2019 M Streets neighborhood, Girma shot them both.<\/p>\n

He would tell police that he and Desta had had an affair, but prosecutors and police found no evidence of one and said Girma lied.<\/p>\n

The murders and their connection to the restaurant that Desta and Lemma loved might have been enough to make the family never want to go back. And for six months, they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople do ask, \u2018How are you able to be in here?\u2019\u201d said Getachew as she sat inside the restaurant one recent afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had that mentality, we\u2019d be paralyzed at home, not able to do anything,\u201d she said. \u201cYou just have to be strong. All of our energy is channeled to the little one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varney, the prosecutor, said he hadn\u2019t eaten at the restaurant yet, but he told the family: \u201cBe looking for me, I\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yemi Lemma said she\u2019s expecting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to hold him to it,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ll send him a special invitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story courtesy of Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

Photo: Yared Lemma (left), Yenni Desta (right).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tale of the Dallas Ethiopian restaurant Desta, is one of tragedy, hard work and ultimately, of love. Husband and wife owners Yayehyirad \u201cYared\u201d Lemma, 40, and Yenenesh \u201cYenni\u201d Desta, 31, were shot and killed in 2012 by a customer…<\/span> Read more ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}