Candlelight vigil to honor slain children

A national nonprofit organization is holding a candlelight vigil in Salt Lake City to remember those whose lives were cut short by violence, particularly the lives of children.

The Ohio-based group Parents of Murdered Children is holding a National Day of Remembrance. Locally, a candlelight vigil will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 25 at the International Peace Gardens, 1060 S. 900 West.

The group hopes the vigil will not only pay tribute to murder victims but also raise more awareness to the devastating impact murder has.

In Utah, the hope is word about the vigil will get out and people will actually attend.

Parents of Murdered Children does not have a full chapter in Utah. They do, however, have Keri Meldrun.

Meldrun's own son was murdered 10 years ago. Christopher Meldrun, 20, was shot to death while in bed by an 18-year-old acquaintance on drugs, she said.

The group held remembrance days in 1999 and 2001. The reason for not having a national day of remembrance every year, Meldrun said, is simply because of how hard and draining such events can be.

"Murder is murder. It's hard. Unless someone has gone through it, they don't know," she said. "It feels like (my son's murder) just happened yesterday, We're dealing with this every day and I'm dealing with it every day. Is it still hard? Oh yeah."

But Meldrun said she was having a hard time getting the word spread this time about the candlelight vigil. At the vigil, she said, a proclamation from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will be read as well as a moment of silence taken.

Meldrun is also marking the day by making a remembrance book of her son.

"I'm going through my son's pictures again and its hard," she said. "I'm trying to move in a positive way but still in a way of doing things that I can still remember my son so he can be proud of me."

Meldrun has worked in the past with Joann Autry, mother of Trisha Autry.

Trisha was kidnapped, murdered and dismembered in 2000 in Cache County.

Although Joann Autry said she would not be able to attend the vigil for health reasons and because she says she is moving forward with her life, she fully supports the vigil.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," she said. "It gives the state and the nation a chance to think about the vulnerability of children and people in general. One of the things we know about grief is it's much easier to deal with it if you have support. This gives families of murder victims an opportunity to come together and support one another. A lot of times the communities forget, but the families of other murder victims don't forget. They're there to put their arms around you and say they understand you, and they do."

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com