Our Grief Internet Family

Our Stories, Cont. Page 2

Our Grief Internet Family
Our Stories
Our Stories, Cont. Page 2
Our Stories, Cont. Page 3
Our Stories, Cont. Page 4
The Reason For Our Tears
Poems

josephwells.jpg
Joseph Wells

Joseph Douglas Wells
October 7, 2002 -May 29, 2004. 
 
 He was 19 1/2 months old and gave 3 other people a second chance at life.  On May 28th, 2004 his father and my husband of 15 years apparently violently shook him and threw him against a wall/floor or something.  I am not exactly sure what happened.  His dad was trying to blame our 4yo son, that he was jumping up and down on the bed and fell on him.  Injuries and the story did not add up and the autopsy confirmed it.  Then his dad said he dropped him and then fell on him. 
Little closer to the truth, but not the truth.  He has been indited and is  now in jail awaiting trial on a capital murder charge.   Joseph deserves justice, he was way too young and innocent to die.  It was a needless thing for his father to do.  His liver went to a 20 month old girl from Houston, TX; his kidneys went to a 64yo women from Pennsylvania and his heart went to a 7 month old girl from Canada. 
 
He is survived by his loving mother Gina , and his big brother Sean who is now 5 yo.
 
*****Case update******

Justice was served on Sept. 15, 2005 with a guilty verdict on Serious Bodily Injury to a child under the age of 15 resulting in death. Sept. 16, 2005 he was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Must to half before eligible for parole.

REGINA WELLS

Willie Lee Lomax III

5/28/82  - 1/23/99
 
His life was taken by gang members.

~ Rasell B.( Willie's Mother) ,Chicago, Ill.

  My son's name is Angus Breen.

He was born on Aug 13,1984 and was murdered June 26, 1999.

~ Dianne S.  

Jami Cotter  

 May 23,1997 - Jan 6,2002

Killed in Fort Myers Fl , beaten to death by
his Godmom, then buried .

His body was found on May 22,2002. He was missing for several months and was  believed to be abducted by godparents, but they were found first .
The Godmom turned states and pleaded to aggravated child abuse got a 15 years suspended sentence with 8 years
to serve with understanding that she would
testify against husband .It was found out she had 5 children she had almost killed and no one knew about.
 Expert  testified  that she did kill my son,
and that the Godfather was not the killer.
She is trying to get conviction overturned, does not know about the  new evidence  against her.
Hopefully final justice will be soon.
 Jami is cremated and in rose urn on nanas mantle place,and his aunt,nana ,myself, stepfather and grandmother and family each have ashes in bottle that either is worn around neck or is put up.

He is in heaven and finally almost at peace.

~Maxine P. (mother)

Sarah Jean Pittenger

July 30, 1982 - June 12,2003

Sarah was murdered, shot in the back while she was sleeping (we pray).
Her boyfriend, then put the gun to his head.
She was our only child, our life.

~Cathe P.

 

 Josh Range 
Oct 12,1982 -  Jan 12, 2002

My son was found in a park in a ditch. Brutally stabbed 27x. There have been no leads in his death.

~Julie R., Josh's Mom

 Gabriel Salazar

October 29. 1981 shot September
29. 2002. died September 30. 2002

There were  no witnesses to the crime and no clues. Gabriel was a organ donor and saved three people's lives.
No justice.

He was my nephew , but I help raise him he lived with me at the time of his death.

~Sandy E. , California

 Rachael Ann Koloroutis   
 Nov.20,1984 - July 18,2003
 
She was at her best friend Tiffanys house,with her 
boyfriend Marcus, and his cousin Adelbert.
At  3:30 PM , assailants entered and murdered all 4 kids.
They were discovered at 6:00 PM by a neighbor. All of them had been shot
multiple times, and 2 of them had also been bashed in the head, one of
them was my daughter.
At this time we have put out a $100k reward to
be distributed by Crime Stoppers.
 No one has been arrested as of yet, and
we have no idea who commited this crime.
We live in Houston, Texas .
 
 Please pray that we uncover the criminals that stole the
lives of my beloved daughter, and her friends.


~Ann K.

 

Terry Garren

August 1, 1983 - October 16 2003

A so called best friend shot him at point blank range. They were sitting on my mothers back porch and his friend got mad at him over something and took out his gun and shot my son under the chin the bullet was a hollow point bullet and when it hit his skull it shattered through out his brain. He was brain dead before the ambulance service ever got there.

 He was the sweetest person you could ever meet. He would do anything for anybody. He was loved by alot of people there was over 350 people that attended his funeral service. We live in Maryville,TN.I love and miss him so much.The investigation  is still going on .I just wish they would get it over with.


~Ann Weeks

Niccole V. "Nikki" Halpin       

June 20, 1971--January 11, 2004

Nikki and her two young sons (Max 9, Drew 7) had just returned home from
eating dinner out. Nikki called her boyfriend. While on the phone he heard
Nikki scream and also heard her yell to the boys to run and hide (probably
saving their lives with her last words,) then the line went dead. A man in
a ski mask beat Nikki to death while her boys hid in the bathtub. The boys
were not physically harmed. Nikki never regained consciousness. She was
removed from life support a few days later after her family traveled from
other parts of the country to say good bye.

Justice is still pending.

nicole.jpg

Nicole Burns
October 29, 1978- May 8, 2003

Nicole was my very best friend. She was killed when a repeated drunk driver drove at 60 MPH through the preschool where she worked. She was standing in the reception area and her body was pinned and crushed between the truck and the wall to the classroom where the children were. It was reported that she died instantly.Nicole was an incredible friend to me. She taught me what it meant to be strong.
She worked full time and was going to school full time while raising two small children all on her own. She had already earned her A.A. degree.

Nicole was a kind and generous person, always caring about everyone around her. I loved her with all my heart and soul, to me she was the sister I had always wanted. She was such a huge part of my life. I miss her so much everyday.

The man who killed Nicole was found guilty of second degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years to life. He is 64 years old and in poor health. He will never be a free man. During the trial he never once showed any remorse or ever said he felt bad about what he had done.

 He is planning his appeal. If only Nicole could plan hers, justice may feel more just.

~Amanda S.

http://www.thevictimsmemorialwall.org/index.html

 

My husband of 8 months, Daniel Price, was shot in the head and killed while protecting me from a random assailant at our front door in San Francisco on December 19, 2003.
 
Daniel's birthday is February 25, 1975 .
 
 His killer is at large.
 
~Sarah A.
  

 Irene Groves

 4-15-1914 - 8-13-2003

 My brother had colon cancer and lived with Mom. He was in the
latter stages of colon cancer. Mom was 89 and in good health except he
kept her on valium so she was not so demanding of him. (We had tried many
times to get her doctor to monitor what Bruce gave her for medicines, but
the doctor did nothing but give Bruce free medicines, so he could not tell
how quickly the medicines were being used or on whom.) Neither Mom or
Bruce would leave the other for they had been so co-dependent for a long
while before this. (Our father had passed away in 1971.) At 54 Bruce shot
Mom and killed her, then called 911 and said what he had done, then while
still on the line shot himself. About 9 years ago he tried to commit
suicide, but had been in counseling since then. There were no warning
signs he was going to do this, however he had been very controlling and
pushed family away. My husband and I kept in contact with them a lot, but
we lived in another city and neither of them would move closer to us.
There is no trial. There is no one to scream at or look in the eye. The
media had a field day "Man in wheelchair kills Mother, then self". We, the family, decided not to talk to the media - what could we say - nothingcould be changed.
The police were great, sympathetic and very,very helpful
to us all.

~Suzy B.


 Liana Kay Haskins

10/23/67-10/30/03

My daughter's name was  ('Le-anna')  She had just turned 36.

My oldest grandson, 11, called me on the morning of 10/30, around 6:45 am.. I had been expecting Liana to drop both my grandsons off at my apt around 6:30 on her way to work, as usual (I would take them to school on my way to work later).. I had already been trying to call since they were late -- I'd gotten no answer several times, and had already decided to drive over there -- I wasn't particularly worried, just thought perhaps she had overslept and wasn't hearing the phone. The phone rang just as I was getting dressed -- when I saw the caller id I expected to hear Liana's voice saying they'd be here soon... instead, I heard my grandson say my name and then his voice broke -- I finally got him to talk and he told me his mother was lying on the sofa and wouldn't get up.. I told him to stay right there and I would be right there (I only live minutes away).. called 911 while I was throwing on clothes and told them to send an ambulance, that I didn't know what was wrong, only that she wasn't responding. I  will never forget walking into that house, both boys standing by the door waiting for me -I went  around the corner to the living room and found Liana lying on the sofa -- blood in her beautiful long brown hair had run down the front of the sofa to the carpet... I went to her to take her hand to check for a pulse, knowing it was already too late... she was so cold.... the rest is a blur of police and phone calls and holding my boys sitting in my car in front of the house for hours til they let us go home... Sometime between the hours of midnight and 4am, someone gained entry to the house (no forced entry - puzzling because she always locked deadbolts -- all were unlocked) -- we believe that Liana had fallen asleep on the sofa watching tv -- and that she never woke up -- someone struck her multiple times in the head and face, then raped her -- we don't believe burglary was a motive, because all that was taken were 2 dvd players & a playstation2 game system... they dumped the contents of her purse to find her car keys, and left 5 $20 bills lying next to her purse... they then drove off in her car -- took it less than 2 miles from her house and burned it... Both boys slept through everything and were not harmed physically... there is plenty of dna evidence, but so far, no one to match it to.

~ Kay H.

    JOHAN STAPELBERG 
     01/02/1961 - 04/8/2001
I lost my husband  Johan, and brother HENK on 4 August 2001 to a farm attack in South Africa...Both were shot execution style. The courtcase is still going and will not be finished untill end March 2004. Johan was 40 years old when he was murdered and Henk only 39.

Case update May 21, 2004:

Case finished  on Friday afternoon at 17h30! It was long and bad but sentence was given. There where 4 accused in court..... The first 3 each got 59 years!!! Double life as well as 5 years for armed robbery, 3 years for the illegal possesion of a firearm and one year for ammunition!!!! I cannot tell anyone how glad I was on hearing this... The 4th accused got 5 years for illegal possesion as we did not have enough evidence against him, but that he was in possesion of my husbands firearm.

 There is another case of armed robbery against him that he commited after he killed Johan so he will not be coming out soon at all.

~Juli S.

Nancy 

September 10,1950 - January  2003 (we really don't know the date)

 My mother came up missing on January 22,2003, the day after her 6th grandchild was
born, she was last seen with a male "friend". Her body was found on April 03,
2003. Her "friend" (or monster is what like to call him) is now charged with the
death of my beloved mother. We are going through the trial right now.We have had his arraignment and his first court day is in March.

~Nancy and Elizabeth (daughters of Nancy murdered
1/03) from Ohio

 Gerard Walczak
April 14, 1927- November 28, 2003
 
My father was shot by my mentally ill twin brother, Kurt, who is booked in jail on first degree murder charges. I warned both of my parents that I thought Kurt was spiraling out of control and could snap, but they didn't (or didn't want to) believe me. The last time I saw my father alive was on Thanksgiving Day. He was sleeping on the sofa after eating dinner. I didn't want to wake him up to say goodbye to him. He was the most wonderful man in the whole world, and I love and miss him very much.

~Karen B.

  David Livingston McCoy

September 16 1953 -  October 25,2003.

My brother was murdered the day after the D.C.snipers were caught . He was shot at 10am in his car in a bank parking lot after making a deposit for the restaurant he worked for. He was then run over by the shooter and 2 other males and died on the scene.There was standing room only at his funeral, because he was a extremely kind person. He leaves behind his wife Robyn, sons Colin 14, and Aengus 7,five brothers and sisters and both his parents.

The case has not been solved.

~Laura A.

Patricia Ann Jordan

6-23-62 to 5-6-99
She was murdered by her sister Christina.
It happened while we were living Leesburg Fl but we now
live in Toledo, Ohio as that is where I was born as were my daughters and
husband and all my family lives here.
Chris was manic depressive and disabled from fibromyalgia and
was taking 6 medications at the time she did this but I also believe she knew
what she was doing at the time. There is a difference between mental illness
and insanity and she was not insane.

~Jeni H. ( mother to Patti & Chris)