Today I am going to talk about a touchy subject in my family. My family certainly has experienced a lot together. One of the experiences, is a very sad and disturbing situation.
WARNING
Tear jerker story ahead. Also, I will not be using any last names in this situation. I will try to avoid first names if at all possible. I also will be tying it to my religion – just warning.
Background Story – Information – Finding Out
I have many Aunts & Uncles. The one I am going to write about today is my Aunt Wendy and her soon to be ex-husband. This is the story from what I was told and information that has been shared with me. I don’t know how true it is, down to the detail, so please bear with me. She is my father’s sister. I don’t know if she is older or younger. Not many people in the family have shared the information, so this is what I have gathered because my Mom tried her best to spare details but let my brothers and I know what was going on.
My Aunt Wendy and her husband, Mike have had a rough rocky relationship. My Aunt had put a restraining order on him, before he came back from his work trip to California. My Uncle Mike had a successful photography business. To get the basic gist of what had happened, my uncle murdered my aunt in premeditated cold blood during the night. I don’t remember what night it was, but I do remember that my Mother got the phone call on December 28.
Sometime within the next couple hours, my uncle committed suicide. He killed himself by getting drunk and having his car run in his garage while the door was closed. He died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. He had premeditated the “Burial Place” of where he was going to stash my aunt’s body. There was a tree that had fallen over, he had gathered sticks, branches, and leaves to cover her body that he had placed inside the tree hole.
I remember my Mom was painting our 2nd living room, my brothers were watching TV, and I was working on homework. I remember how serious it was because she had called an emergency number to reach my father at work. This number should never be called unless there was a death ( family related) or a SERIOUS emergency.
My Aunt was found by a jogger in the early morning. A jogger only found her because a slight layer of snow had fallen. The jogger had followed the blood trail and found my Aunt. So, obviously she called the police and a huge investigation came about.
MY POINT OF THE BLOG POST
Forgiveness and love….. those are two characteristics of Jesus Christ that I am aiming to become better at. This experience made me realize the importance of forgiving those who have wronged you and the unconditional love the savior has for us all.
A scripture that has popped into my head a lot while writing this is
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.
The savior asked for forgiveness for the people who killed him. If that doesn’t show a perfect example or forgiveness and love then I don’t know what is.
I do miss my Aunt Wendy very much! At the time I was a senior in high school. I was an AP student, cheerleader, and example to others around me. At the time, it felt like my sophomore year all over again, (different story for a different time) numb and alone.
In my seminary class, I was asked to do a devotional. I hadn’t really thought of forgiving my uncle for the wrong deed he had chosen, but I had felt my saviors love for me during that time. I do remember bawling my eyes out and bearing my testimony about the power of forgiveness and I told the experience I have had during the winter break – the last couple days. I don’t know if anyone understood what I was trying to say, but I know that I learned even though, in this world some people do things that are hard to forgive. We have to forgive, not for them, but for us.
Desiray Layton Blog 