Eric was murdered by a 17 year old kid in his own home who shot him three times. The kid was stealing from him. The police said it was self defense since the gun belonged to Eric and closed the file. He was a wonderful son, a hard worker and a terrific friend. He was handsome, smart, funny and beloved by all who knew him. I appreciate it that you remembered him here.

I'm Eric's mother and those pictures that were made fun of in this forum were from one of his friends. The guys in those pictures include Eric (on the far right) and Cliff Golla (on the far left,) his best friend who died in Iraq on September 1, 2006. All of those boys have been together for many years and losing two out of their midst so suddenly was tragic, indeed. They come over to our house regularly and are a great source of comfort for us as we are for them.

When a 23 year old dies, there are so many people they've touched in their lives that sometimes we forget them because he was our only child and our grief is so profound. At least here, with your kindness, we can do something about thanking them. Please don't make fun of any tributes to him.


Allegedly Eric knew the kid, according to one of his roomates who was locked in his room at the time of the shooting and whom Eric detested. He was the "eye witness" and said that Eric knew the kid and his sister. The other roomate who was out of town said the whole story was ridiculous for many reasons, mostly because Eric worked a lot and always got off late and two black 17 year olds in their house was just silly. Eric was killed a little after 3:00 AM.

The gun belonged to Eric and was out of the safe because he was taking it to a range the next day. The story that his other roomate got out of the "eye witness" was that the kid was taking things from the house when Eric caught him in the living room yet the kid picked up the gun out of a chair where Eric had it with other gear for the next day and was shot 3 times. These stories change depending on what the "eyewitness" decides he needs to say in order to stay in the house or charm the cops.

We haven't the strength yet to get the official story which paints Eric as a thug, but we will, eventually when we're able to hear about his last dying breath which they threatened to tell us if we didn't back off from asking so many questions. Eric's cell and wallet are still missing. We're leaving this state which has caused us so much pain and a trial would destroy us anyway.