Rest In Peace:Michael D. Clagett,1994 VA bar mass shooter who killed 4,is outrageously legally murdered,asks for FORGIVENESS before being murdered,how INCREDIBLY ironic,since society should have been begging him for forgiveness
Joe1orbit
I have TWO very busy days coming up, starting TODAY. So please excuse the
LACK of posts, and extreme briefness of my commentaries. Gotta rush like heck
just to get in 2-3 items, right now.
Tragic news this morning, out of Virginia, as you evil and diseased
hypocrites have committed yet another legal murder, this time Martyring a
genuine MASS killer. 39 year old Michael D. Clagett was indeed murdered
yesterday, TIED DOWN onto an ELECTRIFIED chair that was specifically built by
your society for the purpose of delivering fatal electric shocks to human
beings! It's ALMOST unbelievable, to any SANE thinker, that ANY society of
humans could possibly have the AUDACITY, the unmitigated GALL, to treat their
OWN tortured child victim-creations, in this manner!
Well, at least Martyr Michael managed to KILL 4 of you creatures, in his 1994
rshooting rampage, that took place inside a VA bar, in 1994. He gunned down the
OWNER of the bar, two employees, and a customer, pumping just ONE bullet
directly into the HEADS of each victim. Looks like he DEFINATELY wanted to make
SURE that all his targets died, and achieved that result, to perfection.
Interesting detail is that Michael's girlfriend used to WORK at this bar, and
had just recently been FIRED, prior to this massacre. She was ALSO convicted of
PARTICIPATING in the rampage, and got a Life prison sentence, even though it
sounds like Michael is the one who actually carried out all of the murders.
You WILL be avenged, Michael, as will every tortured victim that amerikkkan
society chooses to Martyr. You should NOT have asked for forgiveness, Michael.
You have done NOTHING that warrants anyone needing to forgive you. Your SOCIETY
should be begging you, to forgive it for having CHOSEN to brutalize and create
you.
Please take a moment to honor Michael by going to this URL and viewing a
slightly blurry police mugshot photo of our newly murdered Martyr at this URL:
http://news.excite.com/photo/img/ap/clagett/execution/20000706/rm101
Another small but nice facial photo is at:
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0707exe.html
More photos of Michael, the gal-pal who participated in the massacre, and the
victims, are at:
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0706fou.html
AND, to read up on even MORE details of this very interesting mass murder
case, which did NOT get a lot of national, much less international media
attention, you can access additional articles by clicking on the links to the
right hand side of the screen, from this URL:
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0707exe.html
Rest In Peace, Michael.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Associated Press news wire:
Quadruple Murderer Executed in Va.
JARRATT, Va. (AP) - A man who killed four people in a Virginia Beach bar in
1994 died in the state's electric chair Thursday.
Michael D. Clagett, 39, was the second inmate sent to the electric chair since
Virginia gave death row inmates a choice between electrocution and lethal
injection in 1995.
Clagett was convicted of shooting the owner of the Witchduck Inn, two employees
and a customer. Each was shot once in the head.
Clagett's girlfriend, who had been fired from her job as a waitress at the
tavern before the killings, also was convicted and is serving five life
sentences. Among those killed was her replacement, Karen Sue Rounds, 31.
Also killed were Lam Van Son, 41, the bar owner; Wendel G. ``J.R.'' Parrish
Jr., 32, a cook; and Abdelaziz Gren, 34, a patron.
In a final statement before his execution, a weeping Clagett apologized to the
victim's families.
He had written to Son's widow, the couple's 11-year-old son and other victims'
relatives asking for forgiveness. The boy had been asleep in a room at the inn
when the killings occurred.
Son's widow said the letters only convinced her that execution was just.
Clagett's mother, Iris Etter, said she understands the contempt people have for
her son, but she said: ``I'd like for people to know that he is not the
murderer they think he is. Michael has found peace and he knows what he's
done.''
AP-NY-07-06-00
---------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Reuters news wire:
Virginia executes four-time killer
By Frank Green
JARRATT, Va. (Reuters) - A man who urged the state of Virginia to execute him
for shooting four people in the head during a $400 robbery at a bar was put to
death in Virginia's electric chair on Thursday.
Michael David Clagett, 39, was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. at the Greensville
Correctional Center, said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department
of Corrections.
Asked if he wanted to make a final statement, he broke into tears and asked the
families of his victims to forgive him.
Clagett shot and killed four people, including a bar owner who had befriended
him, during a robbery at the Witchduck Inn, a neighborhood bar in Virginia
Beach, on June 30, 1994.
He was convicted of murdering business owner Lam Son, 41, employees Wendell
Parish, 32, and Karen Sue Rounds, 31, and a patron, Abdelaziz Gren, 34. Each
was shot once in the head.
The day after the killings police found Clagett passed out in some bushes near
an apartment building. Unsteady on his feet and smelling of alcohol, he was
arrested for public intoxication.
Clagett's girlfriend and accomplice in the slayings, Denise Holsinger 35, had
already tipped off police that Clagett was involved in the killings. At the
police station, Clagett was questioned by detectives and confessed to the
killings.
He said the victims were shot while he and Holsinger robbed the inn of $400.
In the videotaped interview, Clagett told police, ``You can fry me. That's what
I'm going to ask for when we go to court. Fry me, I'm not gonna live. I don't
want the taxpayers supporting me. I did it. Yeah, I did it all.''
Clagett got his wish. He was only the second person to die in the electric
chair since condemned prisoners in Virginia were given lethal injection as an
option on Jan. 1, 1995. Fifty-one inmates have opted for lethal injection since
then.
Lanna Son, Son's widow, said her husband had been in the Vietnamese special
forces and was imprisoned by the North Vietnamese when South Vietnam fell. He
later fled to the United States as a boat person.
``What makes me real bitter, is my husband, after he went through all that, and
then he just got killed execution-style by Michael Clagett,'' Lanna Son said in
a recent interview.
Her husband had taken pity on Clagett, even cooked him meals, she said.
``He (Clagett) always looked real scary. Long hair, stringy-looking, he looked
exactly like a bum. I had warned my husband...'You better be careful,''' she
said.
Clagett was convicted of the capital murders after a 10-day trial and received
four death sentences. Holsinger received five life sentences plus 23 years for
her role.
Clagett was the fourth person executed in Virginia this year and the 77th since
the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. He did not ask Gov. Jim Gilmore for
clemency, said his lawyer, Patrick O'Donnell.
21:36 07-06-00
-----------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 7/7/00 online edition of The Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
July 7, 2000
Sobbing Clagett apologizes before dying in electric chair
By CINDY CLAYTON, TIM MCGLONE AND CHRIS GRIER
The Virginian-Pilot
JARRATT -- Michael D. Clagett, who shot and killed four people inside the
Witchduck Inn in Virginia Beach in 1994, died in Virginia's electric chair at
9:08 p.m. Thursday.
As he was strapped into the chair, he made a statement to the families of his
victims.
``To the Rounds family, I'm sorry. To the Garcia family, I'm sorry. To the
Cussins family, I'm sorry. To Lanna and Joshua, I'm sorry,'' he said, sobbing
and waving away prison officials.
Clagett, 39, and his then-girlfriend, Denise R. Holsinger, 35, were convicted
in 1995 of robbery and the murders of Witchduck Inn owner Lam Van ``L.V.'' Son,
patron Abdelaziz ``Aziz'' Gren, cook and handyman Wendel G. ``J.R.'' Parrish
Jr., and waitress Karen Sue Rounds.
Joshua Lee Son, Son's 5-year-old son, was asleep in a back room when the tavern
killings occurred.
Holsinger is serving five life terms for the crime.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Clagett's request for a
stay. He did not ask Gov. Jim Gilmore for clemency.
At 8:55 p.m., Clagett entered the death chamber at Greensville Correctional
Center. His face remained expressionless as he looked around the room and saw
the electric chair.
Five members of the execution team seated him. His arms and legs were strapped
to the chair. One member of the team tightly pulled a strap across his chest.
Clagett's spiritual adviser put his arm around Clagett's shoulders and
whispered to him briefly before stepping away.
Rufus Fleming, regional director of the Department of Corrections, asked for
Clagett's final statement as officials held a tape recorder close to his mouth.
A headpiece was put into place and leather strap fastened across his eyes and
mouth.
At 9 p.m., the first 1,800-volt round of electricity surged through Clagett's
body for 30 seconds, pulling him upright against the chair. As the second round
was delivered, a small puff of smoke rose from his right leg, where an
electrode was fastened.
After a five-minute wait, Dr. Alvin Harris, a Corrections Department physician,
took Clagett's pulse and placed a stethoscope to his chest, declaring, ``This
man has expired.''
Clagett was the fourth death-row inmate executed in Virginia this year. He was
the second to die in the state's electric chair since Virginia gave inmates a
choice between electrocution and lethal injection in 1995.
On a grassy field outside the prison gate, about a half-dozen protesters
gathered. The first to arrive was Glenda Thomas, whose husband, Douglas
``Chris'' Thomas, was executed by lethal injection in January.
``So yeah,'' she said bitterly. ``I'm kind of against the death penalty.''
Earlier in the day, Clagett spoke by phone to Son's widow, Lanna, and asked for
forgiveness, officials said.
Prison officials said Clagett was visited by his mother and his wife. But they
did not provide the wife's name.
Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said Clagett had either applied for a
marriage license or been married while imprisoned in Mecklenburg in 1996.
A friend of Clagett's, who joined protesters outside the prison but declined to
identify himself, said Clagett was married to a woman named Karen. A Karen
Sparks was listed on Clagett's visitors list, according to a news reporter who
was shown a copy Thursday.
There were 10 official witnesses to Clagett's execution. Prison officials
declined to say whether the victims' family members were there, citing privacy
concerns.
Clagett's attorneys left without comment.
Three days after the 1994 murders, Clagett and Holsinger confessed to police.
Clagett told police that Holsinger, who was fired from her job as a waitress at
the bar, masterminded the murders. She convinced him that the pair could be the
next Bonnie and Clyde. He said she urged him to kill after a two-day drug and
alcohol binge.
Clagett told police that the couple walked to the bar the night of June 30,
1994. Holsinger dropped a quarter in the jukebox, sipped a draft beer and
whispered to Clagett: ``Do it. Do it.''
Clagett ordered Gren, the only customer, and Rounds, who had replaced Holsinger
in the job, to get down on the floor. When Son came out of the kitchen, Clagett
screamed and Son dropped to the floor.
Parrish was still sitting on a bar stool. Clagett pointed the gun just inches
from his face and pulled the trigger. He then shot the other three in the head
as Holsinger emptied the cash register of $400.
As the couple ran out the back door, Clagett spared the sleeping boy's life,
despite Holsinger's orders to shoot him.
Two weeks ago, Russel W. Burket, also of Virginia Beach, was granted a stay of
execution by the U.S. Supreme Court 75 minutes before he was to die. But later,
the high court rescinded its stay and refused to hear Burket's case. A new
execution date has not been set.
Meanwhile, last week, Gilmore denied a request by the General Assembly's Black
Caucus to declare a moratorium on executions and order a study on whether the
death penalty is imposed fairly.
Columbia University issued a report last month that showed Virginia has the
highest execution rate in the country and that fewer death penalty cases are
reversed on appeal here than anywhere in the United States.
--------------------------------------
The following two news articles both appear courtesy of the 7/6/00 online
edition of The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
July 6, 2000
Lives of killer, victims were drawn closer through Witchduck Inn
By TIM MCGLONE
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH -- The four victims of the Witchduck Inn murders shared common
threads of their lives that joined the night of June 30, 1994.
There was Lam Van Son, the owner of the bar on Pembroke Boulevard. He hired,
and then fired, Denise R. Holsinger after suspecting she was stealing money.
Holsinger's boyfriend, Michael D. Clagett, hung around the bar so often he
considered Son, the employees and many patrons his friends.
One of those patrons was Abdelaziz Gren.
Gren had a soft spot for the pathetic and perpetually unemployed Clagett. He
often gave Clagett money for food and bought him drinks.
The tavern's cook/handyman Wendel G. ''J.R.'' Parrish Jr. made meals for
Clagett, often on the house. The new waitress, Karen S. Rounds, had just
replaced Holsinger.
Their lives came together that summer night when Holsinger hatched a plan while
she and Clagett had sex. They would be the next ``Bonnie and Clyde,'' she told
him.
She wanted revenge, and she persuaded Clagett to shoot Son, Gren, Parrish and
Rounds, all in the head. Clagett and Holsinger made off with $400.
Clagett is scheduled to die tonight in the electric chair for the murders.
Holsinger is serving life in prison.
Abdelaziz Gren came to the United States to live the American Dream.
In his native Morocco, he attended college, learned a new language and dreamed
of owning a business in America, buying a home and a car.
He arrived in Virginia Beach in 1982.
His sister, Fatna ``Fouzia'' Garcia and her husband, Jim Garcia, remembered the
occasion well because it was the year they vactioned in Hawaii. Gren watched
their home in the Pembroke Meadows section while they were away.
Fouzia Garcia was happy to have her brother close by again.
``My brother and I were inseparable since he was a baby. I raised him,'' said
Garcia. ``I never had any children, so he was my life, my son, my father. He
was my motivation.''
Gren began to pursue his dream. He attended Old Dominion University and worked
in the family business, a pizzeria.
Known for his kind heart, Gren often helped others as a way of saying thanks to
a country that had given him opportunities.
His family told the story of how, on Thanksgiving Day, 1993, seven months
before his death, Gren went for a walk, ending up at a park on the Lynnhaven
River.
A man fishing there had caught a bucket full. Gren noticed that some of the
fish were small, and probably not legal to take. He told the fisherman he
should toss them back.
``But I have a family to feed,'' said the man. ``This is all the food we have
today.''
Gren left, but he couldn't shake what the fisherman had said. So he went to the
nearby Food Lion, loaded a cart with groceries, returned to the park and gave
them to the fisherman.
Gren was 35 when he died.
The day after Clagett killed him at the Witchduck Inn, papers arrived from the
U.S. government giving Gren permission to start his business. It was a venture
designed to attract Moroccan and French businesses to this country.
He spoke fluent Arabic, French and English and would act as an intermediary. He
called his company ``Gren International Business Coordinator.''
On Saturday, the day after the sixth anniversary of the murders, the Garcias
visited Rosewood Memorial Park, where Gren is buried.
Jim Garcia sat next to the grave on a marble bench, engraved with ``In Loving
Memory'' on one line and ``Abdelaziz Gren'' on another. His wife dropped to her
knees, cupped her hands, prayed and cried.
Someone had left a dozen roses scattered at the grave and tied a ``Happy
Anniversary'' balloon to a tree that the family had planted nearby.
``I'm still having nightmares,'' Fouzia Garcia said earlier that day at their
home. ``Still, many nights I cry myself to sleep.''
For two years, she couldn't leave the house. The family has not celebrated a
holiday since the murder.
The ranch-style house has remained virtually untouched. They haven't had the
strength to repair the wallpaper in the living room. Gren's room still has his
Morocco posters on the wall, and his photos of himself and a Moroccan
government official.
The only thing in the house that's new is a shrine in the living room. It has
photos of Gren, statues and Muslim prayer books.
Gren's mother, who had moved here six months before the murder, moved back to
Morocco, vowing never to return to the country that took one of her boys.
Fouzia Garcia will not attend today's execution.
``I'm not for it. But I'm not happy with people who kill innocent people
either,'' she said.
Her husband will attend and believes Clagett will get what he deserves.
Like Gren, Lam Van Son left his native land -- Vietnam -- for better
opportunities in America. But unlike Gren, Van Son was forced to flee his home
country.
A soldier in the South Vietnam special forces during the war, Van Son fought
alongside U.S. forces to liberate his country from the grip of communism.
When South Vietnam lost the war and the communists took over in 1975, Van Son
was forced into a re-education camp.
He managed to escape, take a boat to Thailand and eventually make his way to
America. He met Lanna Le Son in Lynchburg, and they married in 1988 after a
five-year engagement.
At the time of his death, the Sons owned three taverns.
``He went the whole nine yards and it didn't kill him. He comes over here and
gets killed by Michael Clagett. That's what I'm bitter the most about,'' said
Son's widow, who also escaped from South Vietnam, flying out two days before
the fall of Saigon.
Lanna Le Son today runs only one tavern.
She said she knew Clagett, who used to hang around the Witchduck Inn, and had a
bad feeling about him, but her husband liked him and tried to help him out by
giving him food and money.
``My husband said he's no harm to anyone,'' she said.
Karen Rounds, a 31-year-old Pennsylvania native, wanted a career change.
She had worked as a nurse at a Maryview Medical Center clinic in Churchland,
but had left the profession to return to school, her friends said.
Rounds had returned to college and was leaning toward computers as a new
career.
She started working at the Witchduck Inn about a month before her murder.
Friends said she did it for spending money. She had been hired, regular
customers said, to replace Holsinger.
Rounds met her husband, Kevin, in Pennsylvania, where they both lived before
moving to Virginia Beach. He was in the Navy and she worked as a nurse at a
state prison. A Navy transfer led them here.
Rounds met Judy Knight, also a nurse, at the Maryview clinic.
``We were like sisters,'' said Knight, who lives in Texas now.
``She had been through a lot of ups and downs and was starting to get things
together,'' she said. ``For this to happen was just not fair.''
After Clagett was sentenced to death in 1995, Kevin Rounds, said: ``I don't
think Karen will rest until he's in the chair and the switch is pulled.''
Kevin Rounds could not be reached.
Little information was available about Clagett's other victim.
Wendel Parrish, 32, was a cook and handyman at the bar and the only one who
refused Clagett's order to lie on the floor during the robbery. He was found
sitting stiff on a bar stool with a bullet in his head, with the other three
victims lying near his feet.
Born in Prince George, Va., Parrish had moved to Hampton Roads as a child and
graduated from Bayside High School in 1981.
``We all believe that Denise Holsinger was the main person behind this,'' said
Carolyn Cussins, Parrish's mother, in 1995. ``It's hard for us to deal with the
fact that she got life and he got death. Maybe it should have been reversed.''
His family declined to comment for this story.
Staff writer Cindy Clayton contributed to this report.
--------------------------------------
July 6, 2000
Clagett's mother says condemned killer has found peace and God
By CINDY CLAYTON
The Virginian-Pilot
For five years, Iris M. Etter has lived knowing that her son is going to be
executed.
The 73-year-old retired accountant talks of his impending death with quiet
resignation. She and Michael D. Clagett rarely discuss the four murders he
committed at the Witchduck Inn in 1994. But he has told her that he's sorry for
his murderous rampage.
Etter, who lives in Galloway, Ohio, has visited her son in prison a couple of
times. But mostly they talk on the phone. She lives on a limited income and
limits her driving to the store and the post office.
Etter said she understands the contempt people feel for her son.
Six years ago, Clagett told a judge he wanted to die for his crimes. But since
being sentenced to death, Clagett has proclaimed faith in God and says he no
longer believes in the death penalty.
Clagett has sought forgiveness from the relatives of his victims. He even asked
one to write on his behalf to Gov. Jim Gilmore, though he has not asked the
governor for clemency. But forgiveness has not come.
Only one thing is certain: Unless Gilmore or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes,
Clagett will die tonight for killing Witchduck Inn owner Lam Van ``L.V.'' Son,
patron Abdelaziz ``Aziz'' Gren, cook and handyman Wendel G. ``J.R.'' Parrish
Jr. and waitress Karen Sue Rounds.
In letters to Son's widow, Lanna Son, Clagett said he believes that losing his
life for his crimes is wrong in the eyes of God.
``At one time, I also believed in the death sentence for all murder cases, but
after a thorough study of the Bible, which continues to this day, I no longer
believe that any human has the right to take another human's life under any
circumstances,'' Clagett wrote.
Those letters, Lanna Son said in an interview last week, only further convinced
her that Clagett should die. If she could, she said, she would pull the switch
to the electric chair.
``Everybody is more or less happy that this part of it is going to end. It's
going to bring closure,'' said Jim Garcia, Gren's brother-in-law. ``We believe
in Muslim, you kill someone, you're going to have to die. In Morocco, he would
have been dead a long time ago.'' The families of Rounds and Parrish either
could not be reached or declined to comment about Clagett this week.
Most of the relatives have said that they believe Denise R. Holsinger, who put
Clagett up to the murders, is equally culpable and deserves a similar
punishment. She confessed to planning the crime and being in the bar when the
killings occurred. But she did not shoot any of the victims. She is serving
five life terms in prison.
Etter said she wishes everyone could know her son as she does -- as a nice man,
but easily swayed.
``I'd like for people to know that he is not the murderer they think he is,''
Etter said. ``Michael has found peace and he knows what he's done.''
Michael calls her frequently from death row, she said. Michael shares things he
has learned since rediscovering religion, she said.
On Monday, Etter already knew what her last words to her son would be before
his execution.
``I'll tell him I love him,'' Etter said.
Staff writer Tim McGlone contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 7/1/00 online edition of The Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
July 1, 2000
Family can't grant killer forgiveness he seeks in letters
By TIM MCGLONE
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH -- Michael D. Clagett wants a little boy's forgiveness.
A little boy whose life Clagett spared when he shot the boy's father and three
others at the former Witchduck Inn on June 30, 1994.
A little boy who dreams of spending Father's Day with the man he never really
knew. A little boy who feels cheated.
In a letter-writing campaign last year, Clagett desperately sought forgiveness
from Joshua Le Son and his mother, Lanna Le Son.
But there will be no forgiveness from this family. The Sons, and some of the
other victims' relatives, have no sympathy for the killer.
Clagett, who turned 39 on Friday, is scheduled to die in the electric chair on
Thursday.
``What do I say to my son when he doesn't play baseball because he has no
father to watch him, coach him, encourage him,'' Lanna Le Son asked Clagett in
a letter dated May 24, 1999.
``Do I take him camping? Fishing? Do I tell him it's normal not to have your
father there?'' she wrote.
``I'm sorry that you don't have the answers to give Josh,'' Clagett wrote in
response.
On Friday, the sixth anniversary of the murders, the families of the Witchduck
Inn victims were preparing for memorial services or headed to the cemetery to
pray for their lost loved ones.
Lanna Le Son was expecting relatives from out of town, including her sister and
father, for a memorial service for her husband, 41-year-old Witchduck Inn owner
Lam Van Son.
Also killed were bartender Karen S. Rounds, 31, patron Abdelaziz Gren, 34, and
the tavern's handyman, Wendel G. ``J.R.'' Parrish Jr., 32. Clagett shot each in
the head, urged on by his girlfriend.
Lanna Le Son said the letters she received from Clagett shocked her and only
added to her bitterness.
Clagett's first letter came in June last year.
``I want you to know I am really sorry for the taking of your husband's and
Joshua's father's life,'' Clagett wrote.
``I hope that one day you will be able to forgive because you will need to in
order to receive forgiveness,'' he added, citing his newfound faith in God.
In an August letter to Joshua, Clagett again sought closure.
``I can only pray that one day, whether it be tomorrow or a hundred years from
now, you and your mother will find it in your hearts to forgive me,'' Clagett
wrote.
Joshua, who had written to Clagett first, said he would never forgive him.
``You made it where I grown up without a father,'' the boy wrote.
Joshua is open about his father's murder with other relatives and family
friends who have helped him through the ordeal. But it has been difficult for
mother and son to discuss it together.
``He hardly ever talks to me about what happened because he doesn't want me to
get upset,'' Son said.
When they do talk about Lam Van Son, it is often about how much they miss him.
Like the time Joshua received an award from Mayor Meyera Oberndorf for being
one of the ``Best All-Around Kids in Virginia Beach.''
``He said, `Mommy, I wish Daddy was here. He'd be so proud,' '' Son said.
Joshua, 11, said he remembers little about that night six years ago when he was
5.
He remembers being carried by an uncle out of the bar wrapped in a blanket.
He remembers waiting in a car with lots of emergency lights flashing and
television reporters milling about. He remembers seeing a body with a fat
stomach being wheeled by on a stretcher on its way to a hearse.
And he remembers that he forgot to tell his daddy good night.
``I was confused. I didn't know what was going on,'' Joshua said.
His family told him his father became sick and had to go to the hospital.
His mother didn't have the heart to tell the boy his father had died. Another
relative took him out behind the house before the funeral to tell him.
Son, who shut down the Witchduck Inn (now called Tango's Tavern) and runs
another tavern called Lanna's, said she still wears her wedding band and cannot
gather the strength to clean out her husband's closet.
Hopefully, she said, after the execution Thursday, she can clear her mind and
take care of that job. Maybe even sell the house.
``I can't get my mind set free,'' she said.
Many relatives of the victims will watch Clagett die, including Jim Garcia of
Virginia Beach.
``I don't feel like forgiveness. That doesn't enter the picture,'' said Garcia,
whose wife's brother, Abdelaziz Gren, was one of the victims.
Garcia is reminded of the murders every day when he passes the Rosewood
Memorial Park cemetery where Aziz, as he was known, is buried.
``We remember it every day like it was yesterday,'' he said.
Garcia still won't be satisfied after Thursday's execution. He believes
Clagett's accomplice, Denise Holsinger, should suffer more than a prison
sentence. And he's outraged that she could get paroled in her lifetime.
Holsinger, 36, will be eligible for her first parole hearing in July 2011, 16
years after she was sentenced to five life terms for her role in the slayings.
Inmates sentenced to such lengthy prison time typically do not get paroled that
early.
Garcia vows to make sure of that.
``I feel that she should be there at the execution so she can realize that she
killed five people, not four,'' Garcia said. ``It's her fault that five people
have died.''
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