“Love one another” (John 13:34).
The following letter, written by a mother to a Criminal Court Judge, is part of an “Impact Statement” requested by the Court prior to sentencing the man who murdered the writer ’s innocent, twenty-three-year-old daughter. It reads, in part,
When Laura, my only daughter, was born, I was forty-three years old. I felt I
had received a miraculous gift. When she was deliberately murdered at the age of twenty-three I was dumbstruck. Words are insignificant in light of the magnitude of the loss. The pain is searing. The senselessness of the act is unfathomable. The destruction of her gently loving presence leaves a horrible void in my life, and in the world. I feel keenly the loss of the contribution she would have made through her own children she would have added more compassionate members to the human race. Through her gifted intellect she would have contributed significantly to any profession she chose. Through her spiritual awareness and innately…
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