Posted on 01/06/2004 4:39:40 PM PST by chance33_98
Family revisits grief, celebrates life on eve of execution
HATFIELD, Ark. - It was nearly four years ago that Karl Roberts was sentenced to die for killing his own niece. The murder not only shocked the community but tore an entire family apart.
Melanie Brewer was 10 years old when her sister, Andria, whom everyone called Andi, was killed. She remembers her sister was always full of joy.
"Everyone would be frowning and she would walk into a room. Everyone would smile and say, 'There's Andi,'" said Melanie Brewer
But the man who killed Andi was no stranger: Her uncle, Karl Roberts, kidnapped her from a relative's home, raped and strangled her. The murder devastated the family,
"It tore everybody apart," said Ann Brewer, Andi's grandmother.
Ann Brewer says the close-knit family has never been the same. Roberts confessed to the murder but never explained why. Ann Brewer still mourns the loss of her granddaughter, but with her son-in-law now set to die, she's sympathetic to his family but not him.
"He means nothing to me," said Brewer. "Nothing."
Ann Brewer says she will stay at home while the execution takes place.
Melanie Brewer says she and other family members will hold a candlelight vigil in Little Rock Tuesday in memory of Andi.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Mississippi | 260.00 |
4 |
65.00 |
106 |
2.45 |
50.00 |
4 |
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A few years ago a small boy was kidnapped near here and later found dead by a lake. In the next few days a man was apprehended trying to snatch another boy. The guy knew his apartment was going to be searched, so he admitted the earlier murder-- plus two more that had gone unsolved for over a year.
He was eventually hanged with as much fanfare as the media could muster. I never felt sorry for him but I did for his parents. It must have been awful to sit at home, watching the clock, knowing their son was going to be killed at a certain time and being helpless to do anything about it.
A few years later, I had a similar experience when my girlfriend aborted our baby over my objections. I know I've never completely recovered. I doubt that other set of parents have either.
I've never been able to figure out which would be worse: having your child be killed in this way, or having your child be the killer. I guess I lean towards the latter.
However, I think the terrible thing would be to have your child do such a thing, not so much whether he was executed for it. In some sense, he would stop being my child the minute he committed the crime.
But maybe I'm just an unusually harsh person. :)
Luckily, with my two kids I'm very unlikely to find out how I would respond to them doing something like this.
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