Post by missingdad on Mar 7, 2012 21:57:42 GMT -5
In April of 2010 my father was having dinner at a cafe in his apartment community. It was a Monday night shortly before 8pm, my father was sitting at the bar with a friend of his.
A random madman simply walked up behind my dad and slit his throat with a knife. It was so violent my father was partially decapitated.
The man had never even been in the cafe, he had never seen or talked to my father before, he just wanted to kill somebody and he randomly picked this cafe, then randomly picked my dad. The odds of all this happening to my dad are astronomical. He seriously had a better chance of getting struck by lightning, it really is incredible when you think about it.
Since that time everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I first lost my job, then Capital One lost all the donation money people tried to give to my disabled grandmother, who my father cared for. My aunt was found dead in her house and they have no idea what happened to her. My girlfriend broke up with me shortly before the trial because she couldn't go through it all again.
The trial was insane, he tried to get off with a "drug induced psychosis" defense, fortunately the jury didn't buy it and he was given life in prison.
He should have been executed though, every juror wanted to give him the death penalty but thanks to law makers you have to commit two felonies in Texas to be eligible for the death penalty. Had he tried to rob my dad they could execute him, but since he did it to just watch my dad die they can't kill him. The law is backwards.
After the trial ended my dad's cousins were in a head on collision leaving the court building, all 3 were care flighted to a nearby hospital where they spent several days in critical condition. Fortunately they all survived but they all have health issues now that will never go away.
Its all just getting a bit ridiculous, and after all thats happened all I really can think about is my dad. I think about it all the time, and am constantly reminded. There are so many throat slashings on tv and in movies, people do the throat slash gesture in so many situations.
I am always miserable and with facebook everyone I've ever known heard about it and gossiped about it on that stupid website. If I ever see anyone from my past that is the first thing they bring up now almost 2 years later.
I just want to get better and it doesn't seem to be happening. I still don't sleep well, I've lost so much weight I look like a holocaust victim.
I tried to see a counselor but she started crying when I told her my story, I actually had to tell a joke to make her feel better.
I had to testify at the trial and the lawyers were worried about him getting off so they wanted me to see an autopsy photo of dad on the stand so the jury could see my reaction to it. Now I can't get the image of his body laying there with his head barely attached to his body. I could see his spine through the gaping wound in his neck.
Before my dad died he told the waitress who was holding his head and the other customers around him, "don't worry I'm going to Heaven." The experts say its impossible he said anything because his trachea was cut in half but all 4 witnesses testified to him saying it so it must have really happened.
He also turned his back to the young children sitting at the table behind him so they wouldn't have to see it. He was a much better man than me to make these conscience decisions in the last few seconds of his life, because I would have just been flipping out.
I try to take comfort in this but I just can't get over what happened, especially to such a good man. My dad was a devout Christian and I just have a hard time accepting this could happen to him.
I cry all the time, relationships are impossible, this guy has destroyed my family and I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnell.
I am sorry for the long message but I don't really have anyone to talk to about this stuff.
A random madman simply walked up behind my dad and slit his throat with a knife. It was so violent my father was partially decapitated.
The man had never even been in the cafe, he had never seen or talked to my father before, he just wanted to kill somebody and he randomly picked this cafe, then randomly picked my dad. The odds of all this happening to my dad are astronomical. He seriously had a better chance of getting struck by lightning, it really is incredible when you think about it.
Since that time everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I first lost my job, then Capital One lost all the donation money people tried to give to my disabled grandmother, who my father cared for. My aunt was found dead in her house and they have no idea what happened to her. My girlfriend broke up with me shortly before the trial because she couldn't go through it all again.
The trial was insane, he tried to get off with a "drug induced psychosis" defense, fortunately the jury didn't buy it and he was given life in prison.
He should have been executed though, every juror wanted to give him the death penalty but thanks to law makers you have to commit two felonies in Texas to be eligible for the death penalty. Had he tried to rob my dad they could execute him, but since he did it to just watch my dad die they can't kill him. The law is backwards.
After the trial ended my dad's cousins were in a head on collision leaving the court building, all 3 were care flighted to a nearby hospital where they spent several days in critical condition. Fortunately they all survived but they all have health issues now that will never go away.
Its all just getting a bit ridiculous, and after all thats happened all I really can think about is my dad. I think about it all the time, and am constantly reminded. There are so many throat slashings on tv and in movies, people do the throat slash gesture in so many situations.
I am always miserable and with facebook everyone I've ever known heard about it and gossiped about it on that stupid website. If I ever see anyone from my past that is the first thing they bring up now almost 2 years later.
I just want to get better and it doesn't seem to be happening. I still don't sleep well, I've lost so much weight I look like a holocaust victim.
I tried to see a counselor but she started crying when I told her my story, I actually had to tell a joke to make her feel better.
I had to testify at the trial and the lawyers were worried about him getting off so they wanted me to see an autopsy photo of dad on the stand so the jury could see my reaction to it. Now I can't get the image of his body laying there with his head barely attached to his body. I could see his spine through the gaping wound in his neck.
Before my dad died he told the waitress who was holding his head and the other customers around him, "don't worry I'm going to Heaven." The experts say its impossible he said anything because his trachea was cut in half but all 4 witnesses testified to him saying it so it must have really happened.
He also turned his back to the young children sitting at the table behind him so they wouldn't have to see it. He was a much better man than me to make these conscience decisions in the last few seconds of his life, because I would have just been flipping out.
I try to take comfort in this but I just can't get over what happened, especially to such a good man. My dad was a devout Christian and I just have a hard time accepting this could happen to him.
I cry all the time, relationships are impossible, this guy has destroyed my family and I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnell.
I am sorry for the long message but I don't really have anyone to talk to about this stuff.