SOUTH BEND — It appears someone’s been cutting the grass, but the first-floor windows have all been boarded up, and the white picket fence surrounding Randy Guyberson’s home is gap-toothed.

On most days, it looks like any of the dozens of other houses in the neighborhood that are either vacant or abandoned.

On Thursday, however, it was the only such house surrounded by worshippers, gathered to pray for Guyberson and his family, and for an end to the violence that took his life.

“We pray for comfort for Randy’s family, and that you heal this neighborhood,” one of them said above the din of crickets chirping in the overgrown grass along the fence.

Guyberson, 58, was found Aug. 9 buried in his backyard in the 200 block of East Dayton Street, in what turned out to be one of the more brutal crimes in recent memory.

According to prosecutors, during an argument, 19-year-old Nathaniel Richerson, who had been staying at Guyberson’s home for several weeks, stabbed Guyberson several times and then hit him on the head with a blunt object and slit his throat.

Later, police said, 27-year-old Matthew Weidler, who had also been staying with Guyberson, though only for a few days, helped Richerson bury Guyberson in the backyard.

Many of those who gathered Thursday outside Guyberson’s house, all members of St. Joseph County’s On-Site Prayer Ministry, commented on the brutal way in which he died, and prayed for an end to violence in the community.

“The violence continues, and we ask you: How long?” one said.

Since July 5, six men have died in South Bend due to violence, the most recent death occurring Saturday at Southeast Park, just blocks from Guyberson’s home, where 39-year-old Deric Foulks was shot and killed following a reunion at the park.

Prayer services for Foulks and 48-year-old Larry Leonard, who was beaten to death with a brick last week at a home on West Linden Avenue, are being planned.