Post by CCADP on Apr 16, 2006 14:38:01 GMT -5
Forever a part of their lives.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday
Byline: Alfonso A. Castillo
Apr. 14--With the Court of Appeals striking down New York's death penalty - sparing Robert Shulman from paying with his life for the horrific crimes he was convicted of - Ruth Brown began to question whether she would ever truly get justice for her daughter. "I figured, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,'" said Brown, of York, Pa., whose daughter, Lisa Ann Warner, was bludgeoned to death and dismembered by Shulman. "I did not understand why God would not let him get thedeath penalty. But I put it in God's hands." Yesterday, Brown said, God stepped in and delivered justice where the state failed to do so, as six months after his original sentence was vacated and he was taken off death row, Shulman died. For Brown, Shulman's death brought mixed feelings of vindication, and pity for a man who, through her faith, she had learned to forgive. "I just hope someone reached him for Jesus Christ," said Brown. "I feel sort of sad, because if he didn't find Jesus, his torment is going to start so early." John Bunting Jr., whose daughter Kelly Sue Bunting was also murdered by Shulman, declined to comment on his death yesterday. But in a statement written by Bunting for Shulman's re-sentencing in November, Bunting said he and his family had been living in "long-term torture," since his daughter's death. He said he looked forward to the day his daughter's killer met a similar fate. "It is my last hope that every last fiber of your existence will burn in hell," Bunting wrote. "I will find peace when I get the news that you are no longer breathing. I pray to God it will be soon." Dawn Paul, whose sister Lori Vasquez, 24, of Brooklyn, was killed and discarded in a Yonkers Dumpster, could not be reached yesterday. But at Shulman's 2000 sentencing for Vasquez's murder, Paul said Shulman "has torn up my family completely." "She wanted to change her life," said Paul, speaking about her sister, who had recently been released from jail before she was killed. "And this gentleman took her life away." Brown said, with both the murderer and the murdered gone, she is left only with their memories. "Unfortunately, he's in our family history now," Brown said. "We're almost bonded forever."
They shared the same fate Kelly Sue Bunting, 28, of Hollis, was one of Robert Shulman's five victims. All the women, police have said, were prostitutes. Bunting's father, John, said his daughter "took a wrong turn in life" as she grew up in Carson, Calif. Bunting's tattoo, of her street name "Melani," helped to lead police to the Jamaica area where other sex workers said she picked up Shulman, a regular customer. Her body was found in a Melville trash container in December 1995.
The dismembered body of Lisa Ann Warner, 18, of Jamaica was found in April 1995 on a conveyor belt at the Star Recycling plant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She grew up in Allentown and York, Pa., but ran away from home several times before becoming a prostitute, her mother, Ruth Brown, said. Suffolk jurors also convicted Shulman in the killing of an unidentified woman whose body was found in December 1994 off Long Island Avenue in Medford. The body of Lori Vasquez, 24, of Brooklyn, was found in 1991 in a trash can in Yonkers, and an unidentified woman's body was found in 1992 in a trash bin also in Yonkers. Shulman pleaded guilty to both murders in January 2000.
Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday
Byline: Alfonso A. Castillo
Apr. 14--With the Court of Appeals striking down New York's death penalty - sparing Robert Shulman from paying with his life for the horrific crimes he was convicted of - Ruth Brown began to question whether she would ever truly get justice for her daughter. "I figured, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,'" said Brown, of York, Pa., whose daughter, Lisa Ann Warner, was bludgeoned to death and dismembered by Shulman. "I did not understand why God would not let him get thedeath penalty. But I put it in God's hands." Yesterday, Brown said, God stepped in and delivered justice where the state failed to do so, as six months after his original sentence was vacated and he was taken off death row, Shulman died. For Brown, Shulman's death brought mixed feelings of vindication, and pity for a man who, through her faith, she had learned to forgive. "I just hope someone reached him for Jesus Christ," said Brown. "I feel sort of sad, because if he didn't find Jesus, his torment is going to start so early." John Bunting Jr., whose daughter Kelly Sue Bunting was also murdered by Shulman, declined to comment on his death yesterday. But in a statement written by Bunting for Shulman's re-sentencing in November, Bunting said he and his family had been living in "long-term torture," since his daughter's death. He said he looked forward to the day his daughter's killer met a similar fate. "It is my last hope that every last fiber of your existence will burn in hell," Bunting wrote. "I will find peace when I get the news that you are no longer breathing. I pray to God it will be soon." Dawn Paul, whose sister Lori Vasquez, 24, of Brooklyn, was killed and discarded in a Yonkers Dumpster, could not be reached yesterday. But at Shulman's 2000 sentencing for Vasquez's murder, Paul said Shulman "has torn up my family completely." "She wanted to change her life," said Paul, speaking about her sister, who had recently been released from jail before she was killed. "And this gentleman took her life away." Brown said, with both the murderer and the murdered gone, she is left only with their memories. "Unfortunately, he's in our family history now," Brown said. "We're almost bonded forever."
They shared the same fate Kelly Sue Bunting, 28, of Hollis, was one of Robert Shulman's five victims. All the women, police have said, were prostitutes. Bunting's father, John, said his daughter "took a wrong turn in life" as she grew up in Carson, Calif. Bunting's tattoo, of her street name "Melani," helped to lead police to the Jamaica area where other sex workers said she picked up Shulman, a regular customer. Her body was found in a Melville trash container in December 1995.
The dismembered body of Lisa Ann Warner, 18, of Jamaica was found in April 1995 on a conveyor belt at the Star Recycling plant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She grew up in Allentown and York, Pa., but ran away from home several times before becoming a prostitute, her mother, Ruth Brown, said. Suffolk jurors also convicted Shulman in the killing of an unidentified woman whose body was found in December 1994 off Long Island Avenue in Medford. The body of Lori Vasquez, 24, of Brooklyn, was found in 1991 in a trash can in Yonkers, and an unidentified woman's body was found in 1992 in a trash bin also in Yonkers. Shulman pleaded guilty to both murders in January 2000.
Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.