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[Music] it was a stunning Summer Night the moon was out beautiful full moon I'm still
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afraid during full moons not really afraid of the moon but just that something bad could happen during a full
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moon on August 28th 1996 I went out on a date with my Zach it was the very first time he'd
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asked me out on a date and a part of me just thought why would I go on a date with you you're my Zach you're my friend
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but then I thought absolutely we just started driving up the canyon I remember feeling that little twinge of excitement
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when you realize you really have a crush on someone and that they have a crush on
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on you Zach snar made me laugh and that connected us from the very beginning in high school we just it
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seemed like we had every class together and he'd always have some smart elic remark to make when I walked in the
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classroom and I think I started to look forward to those comments to see well what would he say about me today
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while we're driving I remember thinking I'm going to get a kiss tonight Zach's going to kiss me
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tonight Zach turned into this parking the lot and he said well I've got a surprise for
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you and then he pulled out his photography equipment and Zach was going to teach me
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how to take pictures he loved black and white pictures and we were going to get pictures of this full
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moon tonight we went down a cement pathway probably 100 yards and I think it was about that time
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that a white truck pulled up and in Utah at 9: 8:30 at night cars pull up in the mountain
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you don't think anything at [Music] all the man in the truck started walking toward
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us and he asks me do you know where this path goes and I answered back saying something that oh I don't know we've
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never been here or I'm not sure and that's when I turned my back and I don't know if Zach turned his head
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too but I hope that Zach turned away because that's when the man pulled out a gun and just open
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[Music] fired he aimed at us and let every single bullet out of his gun [Music] [Music]
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I screamed a loud shriek bright bright lights pungent acidy smell in the air and my ears just started
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ringing I don't know where the first bullet hit me but my body just fell down then it's silent for a
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minute and then I remember thinking this is over now this is over and it turns out that the man is
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reloading his gun and he's getting bullets out of his pocket and putting them in his
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gun when then three or four more shots and they feel really close and I can feel the speed and almost just wind
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brushing by then he stops finally I don't dare move at that point all I could think of in my mind
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was hearing my dad saying if a Grizzly ever attacks you you need to hold still and play
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dead and so I held my breath and I didn't close my eyes and I stayed as still as I could and when he moved my
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body I just let it move with him because I needed to be dead for [Music] him when he touched me here on my hips
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that was the first time I was really afraid that's when I thought well he's going to rape
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me and that terrified me much more than what he had just done to us because I didn't have a concept of what being shot
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was but everybody's afraid to be [Music] raped but he didn't instead he was looking for money
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I assume and he reached in all my pockets his face is this close to me and he's breathing on
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me and then the man ran up the mountain and I know he's gone for sure when I hear Zach's car start
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up I yelled Zach's name and it was so quiet and I yelled again Zach and it was the worst silence that I've
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ever heard in my whole life well I couldn't walk I couldn't stand but my arms were moving and my
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left leg was moving and I realized the closest way to get to the road was up the mountain
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[Music] side it it felt so vertical that I just felt like I kept climbing up and then I'd fall back
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down I could feel cars driving by I could feel the wind brushing against my face I knew I
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was so close to the road but I have no idea how I got to the top and I kneeled on the side of the road and
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waved my arms like this to the first car and it didn't [Music] stop our plan was to get there in time
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to watch the moonrise all of a sudden in that headlights in front of us crawled out
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from the side of the brush this woman covered in blood it was like a horror movie but
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much worse because it's real she was in shock but she was able to hold a conversation the victim told me her name
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was IET Roder and um that she and her friend had been shot I wanted to help the person below
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but I was afraid to go down [Music] there at this point it was getting a little scary because we didn't know if
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the person who had shot her was still lurking in the area she was in and out of Consciousness and every once in a while
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she kept saying when is the help coming and uh we just kept saying they're they're coming they're
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[Music] coming I remember getting in the helicopter on the gurnie you know facing straight
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up to the sky and one of the first things this paramedic in the helicopter says is well
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you know this is a beautiful night and we've got a pretty short flight so let's just enjoy this
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[Music] and it was a beautiful night and I do remember looking out at the sky and being up in the air and feeling
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safe and it's probably the last moment of peace I felt for a long time [Music] [Music]
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I was shot at least four times and then several bullets grazed my head [Music] one of the bullets came and hit this
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shoulder and just dug a chunk of skin out one of them came to my side and actually did expand and open up this
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entire left side then one came in behind it up higher and came all the way through my
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torso to my inner thigh and that's where it got lodged and the fourth came right across
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my head after the surgery a social worker came in and she asked me for Zach's parents
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number we were all in bed it's qu to 1 in the morning and our doorbell rang my daughter uh got up and answered
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the door and she came in the bedroom and she said there's two detectives here and
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they want to talk to you guys and I sat straight up in bed and I said Zach's not
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home and it's like it hit me Zach's not home so I think I at that instant I knew
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something was wrong I went in there and I first thing I said was what's happened to my
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son and they said well your son was involved in a shooting tonight I was in such shock I was
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hearing what they were saying but it just wasn't registering and and I remember finally saying are you telling
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me my son's dead and they just kind of looked at me like you know it just was not real to me
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[Music] and I just said I have to go to the hospital I have to go see vet I remember her leaning
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in and just hugging me and feeling her arms around me and I'm pretty positive the first
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thing out of s's mouth was we are so glad you lived and that's still hard to think about
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because I felt horrible at that moment that I had lived and I would have given anything to
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switch and to let Zach be there and let them be hugging their own son [Music] it was a couple days after Zach was
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murdered that we were sitting out I remember sitting out on the [Music] porch and my dad came out and said they
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caught him they caught him and we all ran inside and the News was on after allegedly shooting and leaving the two
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young people for dead at little Dell Reservoir there were all these reporters and these flashes going off 15-year-old
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murder suspect was taken off to jail here's Jorge Ben venudo total stranger I remember just looking at him
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thinking who who is this you know why why investigators say George Ben venuto had developed a fascination with death
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in recent weeks Jorge Ben Veno was an immigrant from Uruguay from what we've learned about
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him he was just a loner it took the police a couple of days to find him they knew immediately who it was
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because he had taken my brother's car and left his car behind he also had my brother's wallet they believe he
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abandoned his truck at the scene and took snar Ford Bronco the afternoon that they caught him Ben venudo had gone to a
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gas station and was buying cookies with the last of Zach's money the gas station
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attendant recognized him because his picture had been all over the news the police arrested him just behind the
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gas station he was sitting eating the cookies he just looked like this normal kid you know this young kid and I just
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would stare at his picture for hours the policemen told us that he was 19 years old they told us he had come
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from Uruguay he was living he lived in New York for a while and then moved out to
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Utah and that he had bought a gun a couple of weeks before and um apparently somebody had robbed his house that made
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him very [Music] angry on the way to the interview I was trying to understand what type of
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individual I would be talking [Music] with during my conversation with Ben n he began offering his reason for
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shooting these two young people and part of his explanation was that he was tired
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of living himself that he wanted to do something so bad that he would have the courage to then kill
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himself but he said that in fact he' lost his nerve after he had shot both of these
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individuals he had a real power trip with the firearm this made him feel powerful and
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somehow uh in control of things when I described to Ben venuto that he had only completed killing one
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of the two individuals the surprise was visible on his face uh he was almost um disappointed that this gun that he
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treasured and thought so highly of let him down [Music] he had told them I just wanted to watch
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someone die I want to see what it feels like to kill someone I mean they could have taken a
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knife and run it through my body I don't think it would have been as painful because that's when we realized how it
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was a Thrill Kill it was a totally random Thrill Kill I remember he was smiling and just
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looking into the camera just made you sick it just made me sick just to see him in a way I wish they
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would have just shot him right then in there I remember the next morning waking up in in my room and it was a beautiful
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morning and I remember the sun coming in through my window and the house was just
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silent and I remember thinking oh it was it was a dream what a horrible horrible
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nightmare and then my bedroom door opened and my friend came in and she was just balling and I that's when I knew
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that oh my word this really happened and it just seemed so impossible the could be gone because
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honestly Zach was just bigger than life he had he had such a light about him that
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there was just no way that anyone could have taken him from [Music] us the funeral I remember being in our church
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just the amount of people there was staggering I mean just there it was standing room only it was a beautiful
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tribute for Zach IET was there and I remember she could barely walk she got out of the
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hospital just long enough for the funeral and then she had to go back but she was very weak and I remember just
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just she felt so bad she felt so guilty and here we are we we just looked at her
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and she was such a beautiful miracle for us we were so grateful that she had survived walking out afterward behind
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his casket was painful was really when I just wanted to crawl up in a ball and hide from everybody and just
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not be the girl that lived I didn't want to be that person right then I just wanted to hide and be
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Zach's [Music] friend our house was so full of people and one day all of a sudden
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people quit coming and it hit me so hard one day he's really not coming home and I found out through experience there
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is such a thing as a broken heart you know you hear of a broken heart but it is a physical pain I never realized that
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it hurt me to [Music] breathe and I would look around and see all these people getting on with their
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lives and I would think how can they walk how can they do what they're doing and how can they laugh and how can they
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be happy because for me life was basically over I felt like it was over before the shooting I would say I was a
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very trusting person I was someone who really thought everyone else in this world was kind and generous and
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giving and after the shooting I was terrified of everyone didn't trust I didn't want to
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socialize didn't want to leave my house my mom made sure that someone was with me 24 hours a day in my room I was so
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afraid that this man was going to come and finish the [Music] job I remember one night just feeling so
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desperate for help and I went and I just became so angry all sudden Ben venudo had the power to make me who I've always
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been a happy person I I couldn't even smile and I remember I went and I kicked a hole in my wall in my apartment
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because I was just so angry I think I really hated Jorge Ben venudo when it was like a cancer spreading
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through my whole body I wanted to hurt him I wanted to hurt him like he had hurt Zach
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well it was pretty obvious that the snars thought the appropriate sentence was the death
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penalty and they made that very clear to us Bob st came in our home and I just looked at him and I said kill
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him we understood that and we told them of course that that's what our goal was our object was to seek the most
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appropriate punishment we certainly felt that the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment and we were going
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after that I always knew I would have to testify at some point and it scared me to get ready for
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it but there's no way you can really prepare to be in the same room as the man who shot you
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[Music] I will never ever forget that day in court just knowing I was going to see
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Jorge Ben Veno for the the first time scared me to [Music] death at the beginning of the
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case we had a preliminary hearing which is like a mini trial and that's where I had to
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testify the courtroom was packed when they brought him into the courtroom I just felt like he sucked the air right
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out of there kind of it's like I'm looking at the person who who murdered my son he didn't look at us and I was like
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look at me you know look at me this this boy had a mother this this boy had a family who loved
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him and he just didn't even look at us when when I saw him in the courtroom I realized he has no
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[Music] soul and he stood there and pleaded not [Music] guilty I don't remember actually walking
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to the stand but I do remember sitting there and having to point him out and lifting my finger and I remember
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watching my finger and it just shook while I'm pointing at him that this is the man who did
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[Laughter] it she looked so afraid and she was trying so hard to be brave I was amazed that she could get up
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there and look at him after what he had done to her but she did it she did it I imagined a lot what Zach would have
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done and he would have been so strong and so brave during it and so I just tried to be as strong as Zach would have
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been afterwards she just fell and she was just sobbing [Music] I wanted him to get the death
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penalty like he didn't have the right to live we were ready to go to trial we were ready to ask for the de pen we had
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a good case this is the kind of case that we would have won but on on the other hand it's a very
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difficult process we have to convince the jury Beyond A Reasonable Doubt 12 jurors even if one
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disagrees the death penalty is not given and there will be countless appeals countless habus corpuses they'll
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have to appear at different hearings they'll see it in the newspaper they'll see it on
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television Ben venudo said he shot them because he wanted to see what it felt like to watch them die and it won't be
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over for another 20 to 25 [Music] years or did not want to die so that is why Jorge benano decided to to ask for a
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plea bargain he would accept a a sentence of life without possibility of parole if he was not given the death
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penalty in a trial my family was very torn about it would it be giving up on Zach if we
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if we took this plea bargain at the time there was an execution going on in Texas and I remember the the crime had
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happened 20 years before but these protesters were protesting the fact that they were going
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to you know end his life and that he had changed his life and that he was truly [Music]
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sorry and I remember just thinking I don't want that to happen to Zach I don't want 20 years from now protesters
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out there talking about what a great person Jorge B venudo is I I couldn't stomach the thought and so that's why we
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as a family decided to take the plea bargain I know a lot of people were really shocked the fact that we plea
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bargained um it was on talk radio we had phone calls the media why would you do this I said I do not want my son's trial
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turned into a freak Show he deserves more dignity than that having him just spend the rest of
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his life in prison is fine with me and I can just know he's there in prison forever
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high drama in a Utah courtroom today as a killer is sent to prison for life without parole George Ben Bono killed a
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teenage boy and injured his friend before it's like finally it was really [Music]
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over when we walked out of the courtroom the day the man that shot us the day he
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was sentenced I was sure I was never going to see him again I was never going to
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have to be in the same room as him again and then the man that shot us filed an appeal that said he was depressed when
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he made that deal and because he was depressed when he made that deal he should get out of
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it I remember thinking of all the people to claim you're depressed and you should
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get out of consequences how dare you [Music] [Music] the good thing about the appeal is I got
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to make a victim statement and I wanted Jorge Ben Veno to hear me I wanted him to know what he had done to
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us and I turned right to him and looked at him and I said Jorge what was it like
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watching someone die and I just stopped and waited and he looked up at me for one brief second and then dropped his
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head again that is the only time he's looked at me and then I said was it worth it I didn't get an answer surprise
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[Music] surprise it like being kicked in the stomach so hard it's just Indescribable
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how that felt I could not believe that he could do that to us [Music] again I know the name of the man who
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shot me and who killed Zach but I don't say it out loud I refuse to give him that power or respect and I've never
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said his name out loud and I never will [Music] I've had five operations total it took about 3 years for me to
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officially be out of hospitals the most painful part has actually been the nerve damage to not
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have sensation on the right side of my body can be really painful [Music] sometimes I would much rather have
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a surgery every other week then have to feel the survivor's guilt I would go over to the cemetery
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and there would be the sweetest notes and little things on Zach's grave from evet and and you could read her pain
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that she felt so guilty for having survived I didn't want to intrude I didn't want to force her to be part of
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our Lives I thought maybe it was too painful for her her but I really wanted her in my life and our whole my whole
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family felt this Bond towards her whenever I'm with her I think you were with my son and he was
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happy that night with [Music] you and the danai is the most consistently loving person that I could ever ask for in my
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life and she's a person that knows how I feel I feel selfish about it but I really value when she tells me that
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she's happy that I'm here I don't deserve it but I appreciate it a [Music] lot I tried for so long to be that girl
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I was when I was 18 and it was actually my mom who finally one day said you know you're
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going to just need to mourn the evet you were she's gone and you won't ever be her again but you
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have the chance to be someone a lot different and a lot better we hold those speaking of baseball speaking of
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baseball I went to college to be a news anchor are still recording and I thought
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that was going to be my happy ever after that okay but after the shooting and going through the court process I
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realized that the law is where a lot of good can happen for people and I decided
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to go to law school and am now able to help people in the law side of the Criminal Justice
00:37:06
System I work entirely with victims of crime and while I don't tell my story with them and they don't know what's
00:37:16
happened to me I do feel like I'm able to give them a sense of compassion that maybe other
00:37:24
people can't and that means the world to me what's your favorite part on a horse I'm
00:37:31
32 years old I have a darling 7-year-old daughter I was married at one point and
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my ex-husband and I tried really hard to have that work and and it didn't unfortunately but he is the father of my
00:37:49
daughter and together I think we're raising a pretty good kid so I feel really lucky in my
00:38:01
life I miss Zach and I I think about him all the time like all the time but I don't dwell on his death anymore I dwell
00:38:12
on his life I have three children my oldest is Zachary Taylor Davis I wanted to name
00:38:19
him after Zach sometimes it just brings tears to my eyes cuz you know not only is he named after him but I think he
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looks a lot like him every time I look at the Moon I think of Zachary he's the man in the
00:38:36
moon to me and I can never look at the full moon without thinking of that night that he saw the beauty in that full
00:38:43
[Music] moon it's been 14 years since I was with Zach last and I think of him every single
00:39:05
day I can imagine his [Music] laugh I would love to see him again and just run to him and hug
00:39:18
him and it's interesting I think I'll I I want to say wasn't that night so scary and have him look at me and say
00:39:28
yeah it was and he would know what I was talking about [Music] he [Music]