Journey through tears — The Chevys shootings

Second in a four-part series

MOUNTAIN GREEN — The Berg family started a year ahead, planning a Hawaiian vacation that would take Peter and Loydene Berg back to the island where they'd gone as newlyweds. The couple took a late honeymoon to Maui — after Peter cheated death the first time — and had always wanted their two children to visit.

In the end, after the shooting, they canceled Peter's ticket.

Loydene and her children, PJ and Whitney, went anyway. It was one of the hardest things they did after Peter was gunned down before his 12-year-old daughter's eyes following a family birthday dinner.

And this is how the Berg family has survived the past three years.

They show up. They talk. They try to forgive. And they work hard at moving forward.

"I don't know if I would say it's getting easier," Loydene Berg, now 47, said recently. "I would say we're getting better at managing it."

From the family's cozy home, within view of the cemetery where Peter is buried, Whitney, now 15, and Loydene Berg spoke about their journey through grief and toward forgiveness of Quinn Robert Martinez, the young man in prison for killing Peter and Jason Rasmussen, 32, and critically wounding three others April 27, 2000.

Their living room is full of warmth and photos and memories of Peter.

Here he is, smiling that huge Peter smile. Above the photo, a hand-painted placard proclaims: "Eat, Sleep, Ski." And there he is, choosing a Christmas tree with his family, niece and nephew. Here he is lounging on the couch with his wife and children, framed by the saying, "Family is at the center of life's meaning."

Everyone tells me he gave his life for me. I think that's right. That's the kind of guy he was," — Whitney Berg, 12, at her father's funeral.

Today, Whitney's memory of that night three years ago is crisp, but she haltingly tells how she came to be without a father.

"I was just listening to music. Quinn opened the car door. Just a few feet from me. Mom and PJ were in another car. We were all going up to Snowbird. But Quinn had a gun, and he made us get out. He wanted the keys. Dad threw them. Then he got shot. I was in shock."

In fact, an examination of court documents and police reports shows Peter was shot once in the left shoulder. A second bullet charged through his chest and into his heart. Despite his injuries, Berg rose as Martinez searched for the keys on the ground about 10 feet from Whitney. He seemingly distracted Martinez from his daughter as the man who'd already shot three others ranted about the keys to Peter Berg.

"They're over there," Peter Berg said before collapsing.