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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 bo so determined that he was dead.”Almazan closed her eyes, as if to collect her thoughts. Her arms were folded on the table, her legs crossed at the ankles.Two Patton officials, including Alla way’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, 1 could 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 ...” !I ler 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.”Tell 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 many times,” she said.“Absolutely. And I kidded with them, laughed with them, worked with them; 1 ate lunch with them.” “Why did you shoot my dad three times in the back?”“1 have no idea,” Allaway said. “I don’t think it’s a good thing 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.L lIKIIy. ,«jIII?■j i m —ssc*/t/t** .- M ■■■ ■ ■ ./IH. L0RREN AU JR.. THE REGISTERCLOSURE: Just by beinq able to ask the man who took my father's life why he did it qave me some modicum of relief, Patricia Almazan said.I've done what I can do this far. I wanted to see my father's murderer, and I'm going to move on now.”PATRICIA ALMAZANIt's a hell of a word to say, but I was totally insane. That's all I can say. Honestly.EDWARD ALLAWAY“1 know you’re not going to tell me the truth,” she said. “1 know that now'. I knew from the onset.”“No,” Allaway said. “I think you’re finding that 1 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, “I 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 be 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 you did,” Almazan said.“Absolutely.”She asked him if he had any questions. He thanked her and her hus hand for coming, and said: “Your father didn't deserve what happened.1 didn’t do it because he was your father. I didn’t do it because he was an evil person. I didn’t do it because 1 knew' him.”Almazan stared into his green eyes, trying to set* into his soul.“It’s a hell of a word to say, but 1 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 them.” “OK,” Almazan said.Then she showed him the pictures of her father.She pleaded with Allaway to stop petitioning the courts to got 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 to move on now.”“Good,” Ailaway said.But if you ever - make no mis-THE VICTIMSCal-State University, Fullerton July 12, 1976take ever try to get out, I will be there, every single day until I die, to see that you don’t. Because you took a lot of people’s freedom.”Almazan and her husband then got up and left.ONE STEP CLOSERAlmazan met with Ailaway to get some 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 step closer to closure,” she said.Said Ailaway, 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 1 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.“1 punish myself every day. Every day, I know' why I’m here, i couldn’tput it across the table to (Almazan), but 1 wish 1 could.”Allaway knows he never will escape the judgment of the peopleMASSACRE:Seven of the nine victims in Oranqe County's worst shootinq spree on July 12,1976, were killed: from top left to riqht, Seth Fessenden, Paul Herzberq, Bruce Jacobsen, Frank Teplansky, Deborah Paulsen, Donald Karqes, 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 where I 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 gregari ous father, who always took the i ime 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 around them.AU of them together - under a tree.MOREONLINEFor an audio slide show featurinq clips of the meeting between Almazan and Allaway, visit www.ocreqister.comCONTACT THE WRITER: (714) 796-2286 or ghardesty@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 08 Jul 2023
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