Kent Whitaker
Appearances
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I realized How could he be so stupid? I was so mad at him. I got in a wheelchair and I wheeled down to his room and I just read him the right act about how if he had been telling the truth, he would not be a suspect.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
Trish and I were awakened by a phone call from the Sugar Land Police Department telling us that Waco Police had contacted them that Bart was on his way down here to kill us. It was something that a friend overheard Bart talking to his roommate about, and they concluded that it was a misunderstanding.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I hear bang! And the next thing I realize is I am lying down like this.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
As we were leaving, we put our hands up to the glass, and he puts his hand up on the other side, and we smile and say we love you, and then we left.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I knew they couldn't show their whole deck of cards, but they could at least tell me something if they wanted me to believe them.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
He appeared as if he was really listening. And I told him, Bart, I can't read your heart. You're either 0% responsible or 100% responsible. The point is that I love you. God has allowed me to
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
And it was crushing because up until then, there was at least one member of my family that was still here. And now he's gone.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
When he ran away, it kind of kicked the third leg out of the stool that he must actually have been involved. By that point in time, I'm thinking it's pretty hard for me to extend any potential arguments against it.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I am the single greatest victim in this crime and nobody has to try to convince me of how awful this crime was. The death penalty is the wrong penalty in this case.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I think he really believed that who we were loving was someone that didn't exist and that he was hiding behind a mask so that we would never find that out.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
Well, just hang in there. Keep calling. Love you. I love you too, guy. So I walk in this room, that little room with bulletproof glass between us, and he said, Dad, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. And it was at that point I realized he was saying... I did it. I'm sorry. I want to confess.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
Forgiveness is absolutely critical if you want to heal from your loss. If you don't forgive, you're basically shackling yourself to the event that you want to grow past.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
If victim's rights means anything at all, it should mean something even when the victim is requesting mercy and not just when the victim is requesting vengeance.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
They played with each other from the time that Kevin was old enough to do it up until the end. They did stuff together.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
It was overpowering and I'm so grateful. So, so grateful.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I may actually have an opportunity to be in the same room with him, touch him, shake his hand, hug him.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
We tried to figure it out one time and ended up with about 15,000 miles that we've ridden together.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I think everybody knows horrible things can happen, but you just don't expect it.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
We thought we were celebrating the upcoming graduation of our son. He was supposed to be going to graduate school, going into law enforcement. We got ready for dinner and went to dinner. Lots of laughter, yeah. We were happy and we were teasing each other. But then we did that whenever we were together.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
That was after we finished eating. I bet you I took that no more than five or ten minutes before we left the restaurant. which is five minutes from our house.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
And when we came back, Kevin led the way to the front door and Krisha was behind him and when he stepped in, that's when the shootings happened.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I'm on the front porch. I hear a shot. Trisha's saying, oh, no, and then another loud noise. I didn't recognize them as gunshots. I didn't really understand what was happening.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I walked up to the door. All the lights in the house were out, but the street light showed a single figure in a ski mask, maybe six, eight feet away. My reaction was, I wonder which one of Kevin's goofball friends is playing a trick on us with the paintball gun. And I just stood there. But a moment later, I was shot too.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
Before I could call out to see how, if Bart was safe, there was a fourth shot from inside the house. Scotty shot all of us. Why?
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
I don't understand it. I look at it as a miracle. Desire for revenge had gone.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
And the moment that I did ask him to help me forgive, the strangest thing happened. This warm glow flowed over me just instantly. And I looked at my heart and I realized that that desire for revenge had gone.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer
How could he be so stupid? I just read him the riot act about how if he had been telling the truth, he would not be a suspect.