Adventurous is the word Jesse Atwood's family uses to describe him. Heartbroken is how they feel when they think about him. Cheated is how they feel about the acquittal of the man who shot him seven times.
Atwood's life had been troubled during the short 20 years he lived. Family members say he had just started to make things happen for himself and his family when he was shot to death at a New Year's Eve party Jan. 1, 1992.The man who shot him, Khambay Tanpirak, was acquitted of criminal homicide Thursday by a jury that found he acted in self-defense. Atwood's family was stunned when the verdict was read. Only his fiancee mustered the voice to cry out.
"I just sat there," said his mother, Carol Villar. "I didn't know what to do or where to go." She said prosecutor Ruth McCloskey turned and looked at her in disbelief at the "not guilty" verdict.
Atwood's fiancee, Crystal Croft, said she wept and cried out, "He died for nothing, no one cares." When someone in the courtroom said something she thought was rude and disrespectful, her sorrow turned to anger. Atwood's family left the courtroom feeling empty and cheated.
At home, as they cried, Tanpirak's family rejoiced. Villar said Tanpirak's family was respectful and kind to them. Tanpirak also expressed remorse for the death of his childhood friend.
But six months in the county jail isn't the justice Atwood's family felt they deserved. The wounds created by his death ache still and the memories of that morning haunt them.
"Two families have been destroyed," Croft said. "(My son) knows his dad by a picture on a wall and taking flowers to his grave." When 2-year-old Tanner asks for his dad, he's told, "He's with God."
Atwood had given Croft an engagement ring for Christmas, just a week before he was killed. He'd gotten his GED and a 1970 Nova. The night before he died he'd been promoted.
"He called me that night," Croft said. "He said, `Crystal, we're really going to do it. We're going to make it.' He just said he loved me and that was it."
Then he went to the party - the last one of his life.
"I think Jesse went over to that party to brag about his car, Crystal's rings, his promotion," said Villar. About 5 a.m., one of Atwood's friend called Villar and told her Jesse had been shot. An hour later he was dead.
His 17-year-old sister, Tammy, went in the room to say goodbye to her brother, and that image is one that haunts her.
"I couldn't stop looking at him," she said. "I'll never forget what he looks like."