How do you respond after losing everything in an instant on the worst day of your life? 

The Las Vegas Massacre Connections: Finding Strength Through Tragedy After America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting, a powerful new memoir of perseverance written by 20-year Las Vegas resident Mark Gray, is the tale of Mary Jo von Tillow, whose husband, Kurt, may have been the first person fatally shot on Oct. 1, 2017, during the Route 91 Harvest Festival. After losing her husband, Mary Jo sought out survivors of other tragedies to heal. Via adventure, friendship, personal growth, and the human spirit, this trauma-bonded group endures, and the patchwork of people is all connected through a single thread: Mary Jo von Tillow.

The Las Vegas Massacre Connections: Finding Strength Through Tragedy After America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting by Mark Gray

After being left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, Mary Jo’s PTSD wouldn’t subside, and she soon transformed her grief into purpose by connecting with other survivors of tragedy. This profoundly human story blends true crime, resilience, and hope, offering a fresh perspective for readers seeking both truth and inspiration. 

This is not a memoir rehashing the events of the night Mary Jo’s husband was murdered, but rather a true compilation of stories highlighting the people who’ve entered Mary Jo’s tragically built orbit because of that day, and the impactful moments that have occurred because of that day. This story begins with Oct. 1, 2017, but doesn’t end there. 

She’s met a man, Tommy Maher, who travels the country in a rickety van after mass casualty events to do random acts of kindness in victims’ names — his inspiration came after losing a friend and fellow firefighter in 9/11; there’s a man, Jeff Dion, who became a lawyer after sister was killed by the same serial killer who murdered Adam Walsh; Lindsay Lawler, a singer-songwriter, was molested by a Nashville executive; following a prison sentence for drug distribution, Dion Green turned his life around, but within weeks, he lost him to a tornado and his father, who died in his son’s arms following a mass shooting in Ohio; Ronnie Benjamin was given a literal death sentence, but then fate stepped in as direct result of Route 91.

Still, all of these people have taken their trauma, persevered, and used tragedy as a transition point for good, and they’ve all been rewarded financially, mentally, or psychologically. 

In 2017, a Las Vegas gunman took away her husband via hate, but it ended up giving Mary Jo life.

Las Vegas Massacre Connections: Finding Strength Through Tragedy After America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting was released on October 14, 2025, via publisher Wild Blue Press. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and wherever books are sold.