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The Orange County RegisterALLAWAY AND A VICTIM'S DAUGHTERSunday, May 21,2006 News 25MEETING: 1976 victim s daughter questions killer face to faceFROM PAGE 24wonder why you had to be so determined that he was dead.”Almazan closed her eyes, as if to collect her thoughts. Her arms were folded on t he table, her legs crossed at the ankles.rrwo Patton officials, including Al-laway’s social worker, watched silently in the small, unadorned conference room.Almazan told Allaway that he must have known what he was doing.“If I had believed that you were just a crazy person, that you just happened on campus and just started indiscriminately shooting, 1could have laid my father to rest 30 years ago,” she said. “But that's not the case.”She took her time searching her thoughts, ignoring the materials she had brought.“1 really, honestly have to get at the truth in order for me to rest,”she said “And in order ...”Her voice broke. Allaway asked if she would like some water. She waved him off.“In order for my father’s soul to get where it has to get.”Fell me the truth, Almazan said, adding: “I’m in prison for as long as you are.”You’re right,” Allaway said. Allaway, in a mild-mannered voice, said: “1 really don’t have a whole lot of answers ... 1 was insane at the time, and when you’re insane, there’s just not a good reason or rhyme how things work out.” Almazan asked him about conditions at work. She asked why he gunned down people he knew and liked - why he stopped to reload.These were people that you worked with, that you knew, that you sat and spoke with manytimes,” she said.“Absolutely. And 1 kidded with them, laughed with them, worked with them; I ate lunch with them.”did you shoot my dad three times in the back?”“I have no idea,” Allaway said. “1 don’t think it’s a good t hing for me to not be able to remember, but... I don’t remember hurting those people - killing them.”Almazan was frustrated. But she remained composed.«rnH. LORREN AU JR., THE REGISTERCLOSURE: “Just by being able to ask the man who took my father’s life why he did it gave me some modicum of relief, Patricia Almazan said.mrI've done what I can do this far. I wanted to see my father's murderer, and I'm goingto move on now.ftIt's a hell of a word to say, but I was totally insane. That's all I can say. Honestly.PATRICIA ALMAZANEDWARD ALLAWAY“I know you’re not going to fell me the truth,” she said. “1 know that now. I knew from the onset.”“No,” Allaway said. “I think you’re finding that I don’t really have all the answers.”She told Allaway about her father’s eight grandchildren.“You killed a part of every one of us,” Almazan said.“Very true. You’re right.”Almazan said, “1 loved my father very much, and you just have no idea how much I miss him.”Her voice breaking, she added: “I’m 60. You think I’d bo over it by now. But I’m not.”She said she prays nothing like this will ever happen again.She questioned why Allaway didn’t turn the rifle on himself.“You had no right to do what youdid,” Almazan said.“Absolutely.”She asked him if he had any questions. He thanked her and her husband for coming, and said: “Your father didn’t deserve what happened. I didn’t do it because he was your father. I didn't do it because he was an evil person. 1 didn’t do it because Iknew him.”Almazan stared into his green eyes, trying to see into his soul.“It's a hell of a word to say, but I was totally insane,” he said. “That’s all I can say. Honestly.”He added: “If I knew it was your father who was standing in front of me that morning, he’d be alive today. And so would the rest of t hem.” “OK,” Almazan said.Then she showed him the pictures of her father.She pleaded with Allaway to stop petitioning the courts to get out of Patton. It’s emotional torture for all the victims’ families.“I’ve done what I can do this far,” Almazan said. “I wanted to see my father's murderer, and I’m going tomove on now.Good,” Allaway said.“But if you ever - make no misTHE VICTIMSCal-State University, FullertonJuly 12, 1976SrfU *Vfcrpfe** (Wfcrrtake - ever try to get out, I will be there, every single day until 1 die, to see t hat you don’t. Because you look a lot of people’s freedom.”Almazan and her husband then got up and left.ONE STEP CLOSERAlmazan met with Allaway to getsome answers. After 31 minutes of talking with him, she realized that sometimes, there aren’t any answers.“Just by being able to ask the man who took my father’s life why he did it gave me some modicum of relief, and put me one stop closer to closure,” she said.Said Allaway, after the meeting: “In my heart and my mind, I really would like to be able to do something to show my sorrow for the sorrow I brought to these people. You can all punish me, but you can’t come close to what’s already there,” he said, pointing at his heart.“I punish myself every day. Every day, I know why I’m here. I couldn’t put it across the table to (Almazan), but I wish I could.”Allaway knows he never will escape the judgment of the peopleUmmM KmiwMASSACRE:Seven of the nine victims in OrangeCounty's worstshooting spree on July 12,1976, were killed: from top left to right, Seth Fessenden, Paul Herzberg, Bruce Jacobsen, Frank Teplansky, Deborah Paulsen, Donald Karges, Stephen Becker, Maynard Hoffman and Donald Keran.whose lives he shattered.“As far as God judging me, 1 know' it will be fair and honest,” he said.“And that’s u'here 1 leave it. I’m going to let him call the cards.” Almazan said she never will forgive Allaway.“I looked into his eyes,” she said, “and there was no soul there.”She often thinks of her gregarious father, who always took the time to say hello to the janitor who killed him.She has a favorite picture.In the photo, a 6-year-old Almazan and her 5-year-old brother are dressed for church.Their father is standing between them, smiling, his arms aroundthem.All of them together - under atree.MOREONLINEFor an audio slide show featuring clips of the meeting between Almazan and Allaway, visitwww.0cre9ister.comCONTACT THE WRITER: (714) 796-2286 or qhardestyClt;£ocregister.com
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Sun, May 21, 2006
Page 75
Full Page
Clipped by
Lee D.
USA 07 Jul 2023
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