Headstone quest — Friends collect funds to buy marker for Trolley victim's grave

Friends of a Trolley Square shooting victim hope to fill a void this Christmas that has lingered since his death.

Brad Frantz was laid to rest at the Mountain View Memorial Cemetery in Salt Lake City last February without a headstone. A plastic angel and hummingbird in a nearby tree are the only things that mark his grave.

"We offered as his friends to take care of it for the family," said Nick Sachs, whose grew up with Frantz in a Sugar House neighborhood.

That offer was made at the time Frantz, 24, was buried. Sachs, his brother Daniel and other friends managed to scrape together a few hundred dollars the past few months, but well short of the cost of a grave marker.

The Sachs brothers work at the Robinson Farms Christmas tree lot at Nibley Park Golf Course, 2730 S. 700 East, during the holidays. Instead of pocketing their tips, they're putting them into a donation box with Frantz's picture. Tree shoppers also have dropped change into the box.

Counting the money they raised earlier, Sachs said they have about $1,400, including $500 from Trolley Square shooting survivor Stacy Hanson. Sachs figures they need another $800 for a headstone.

June Wangerin, Frantz's mother, appreciates the gesture.

"They just wanted to do it for him," she said.

Wangerin said she offered to pay for the headstone, but her son's friends won't accept her money. All of the money she has received as a result of Frantz's death is to go into a college fund for his 4-year-old daughter Deijah. Sachs said money collected over the headstone cost will go to the fund.

"His daughter loved him so much and he loved her," said Wangerin, who shows her granddaughter home videos and photos of her father during visits. "I'm afraid she's going to forget about him."

Frantz was one of five people killed by gunman Sulejman Talovic in a Feb. 12 shooting that ended when Talovic was shot by police and killed. Four others were also shot, but survived. Police have yet to determine a motive.

Wangerin said she thinks about her son daily. And seeing Deijah helps her heal, though that is happening slowly.

"I'm working my way through it. I'm not over it. I will never get over it. I'm taking baby steps basically," she said.

Sachs said he hopes to have the headstone, which he and his friends plan to design with pictures of Frantz, in place by February.

"We just want to let him know he impacted our lives," he said. "Pretty much everyone he ever met he touched some way or another. We just wanted to help as his friends."

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