May They Rest In Peace

Mel Ignatow died mysteriously on September 1, 2008. He was alone at home and fell onto a glass topped coffee table. It shattered; he was cut and slowly bled to death.

 Twenty years before, he raped and humiliated, then tortured and finally murdered his girlfriend. He was acquitted at the trial. Some time later a repairman, working in the house, found a lost roll of movie film that showed him committing the crime. He then admitted it but couldn’t be tried again, double jeopardy. He was, however, convicted of perjury and, as a persistent felon, served time in jail. He was released a couple of years ago. He claimed to have been “saved” but was shunned in the community. The glass topped table was eerily similar to the one upon which he committed his heinous acts.

The incredulity of this doesn’t escape me. I am reminded of the family killed in the house across the street from us on Briar Rose Drive in Houston. A police detective, who was no relation to the victims, became obsessed with the murders. He lost his job, his wife, his family, and his sobriety but eventually brought the killer to justice. Afterwards he got his life back together.

Then there’s the mental image that sprang into my imagination at the very time Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, was executed. I had the sight of him walking toward the assembled group of his victims. He was allowed into their company without an emotional display, sort of matter-of-factly; they seemed at peace with him. This insight was a rare occurrence for me and I remember it well.

Is it that when we die we have an option to rest in peace or not? Is it possible that Mel Ignatow’s girl friend and the Houston family would not be satisfied after their death until the perpetrator was punished by society or other means? Did they and the bombing victims help investigators? Some of the improbable discoveries that were made in all three of these examples could be the spirits of the victims guiding those who are still here.

It seems possible that a victim could be so outraged at a cruel attack that a choice is made to see that truth is somehow revealed. Not all victims may want vengeance; some may be relieved to be finished with a particular lifetime. Others may be disappointed at being stopped short in their lifetime of development by the evil in the perpetrator and do what is necessary to stamp it out.

Evil may be a disease of the soul spreading from a carrier or one being infected by another. Like other diseases, a particular evil may even end with the carrier’s death, if that occurs before it is spread to another. Evil may exist in this world and not in the spiritual world to which we aspire. I don’t know but I wonder about these things.

End