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( MUSIC PLAYING )
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( BIRDS CHIRPING )
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( BACKGROUND CHATTER )
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ROBIN: Going back to the campus, it didn't feel good.
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To me, that campus is--is all about sadness.
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( BACKGROUND SHOUTING )
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MIKE MORRIS: Here we are
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in a dormitory full of freshman college students
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in their firsthome-away-from-home.
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And they go to sleepon Monday night,
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the 18th of January, year 2000,
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and are dreaming their little 18 and 19-year-old dreams
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and not knowing,'cause they couldn't know,
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that they were about to face
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the first real crisisof their lives.
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Different students reacted in different ways.
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Some acted as cowards and some as heroes.
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It was just one night,
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it was just likeany other night
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and it changed drastically for a number of individuals,
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and that could happen tonight, that could happen tomorrow,
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that could happen any day.
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MIKE: No one who was involved in this case in any way
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will ever forget it.
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It is so senseless
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that it was an actof just pure stupidity
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and pure cowardice.
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JOE KAROL: Lord, we keep the anniversary
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of the death of our brothers, Frank, and John-- today.
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We pray for all thosewho were injured.
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CANDY KAROL: When Joe and I go to church every Sunday,
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and during church when you say the "Our Father,"
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there's a part in there about forgiveness.
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I can't forgive themfor taking our son.
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( HELICOPTER WHIRRING )
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TV NEWS: The fire in a freshman dorm left three dead
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and sent 54 students to area hospitals.
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This is a--a huge tragedy.
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We don't know a whole lot yet.
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TV NEWS: Investigators say the fire started
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at about 4:30 this morning on the third floor
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of the commons area of a freshman dorm
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called Boland Hall.
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( SIRENS WAILING )
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I remember getting the calland it's burned into my memory.
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( SIRENS WAILING )
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I can't remember, like,
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trying to sit up on a gurneyand look around.
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I...
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( CRYING )
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( SIRENS WAILING )
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I was looking for Frank.
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I figured he got out.
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ROBIN GABY FISHER: Shawn and Alvaro
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had only known each other a--
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a few weeks when the fire took place.
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They didn't havea whole lot in common
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except for their backgrounds.
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Both were from New Jerseyinner cities,
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both were from lived-in families,
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underprivileged neighborhoods
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with families who struggled to meet ends,
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and they were assigned to room together.
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( SPEAKING SPANISH )
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ROBIN: Both Shawn and Alvaro
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were the first in their families to go to college.
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Neither could afford college
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and they really struggled to help their boys get there.
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Shawn was raised by a single mother
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whose dream, she told him from when he was a little boy,
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was that he go to college and have a college experience.
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Alvaro's parents came here from Colombia.
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They spoke very little English.
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SHANY LLANOS: Me and my brother were very close.
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He was into sportsas well as I was, so we were--
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we had a very, like,a lot of things in common.
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I have always felt that my brother and my mom
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had been the family strength.
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I couldn't even imaginemy life without my brother.
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SHAWN: January 18th, 2000
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was just a regular, normal night on Seton Hall's campus.
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I know there was a big basketball game
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going on off campus.
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SHAWN: St. John's was, like,
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our rival basketball competitors and we beat St. John's,
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and we hadn't done so in a couple of years.
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The whole campus was just, you know, full of excitement
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and feelin' real good that we had conquered our rivals.
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It's college, you know.
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We're havin' fun, you know.
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People play music all night and run up and down the halls
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and so it definitely seemed like a regular school night to us.
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ALVARO LLANOS: It was getting late
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and I decided I needed to study for a class,
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for a calculus class.
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I went back to my dorm and, you know, started studying
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and ended up falling asleep with my book open.
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I still had my clothes on.
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The dormitorywas these freshmen's
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first home away from home
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and the presumption is that they'll be safe,
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and the reality was that they weren't.
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( CRICKETS CHIRPING )
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( BIRD CAWING )
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( FIRE ALARM BELL )
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SHAWN: It was about 4:30 in the morning.
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I heard the alarms going off in the building
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and just kind of casually got up and said, you know,
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"It's another false alarm."
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As I approached the door and opened it...
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a big cloud of smoke came through
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and it just kind of like smacked me in the face
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and I turned around and looked at Al and said,
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said, you know, "This is-- this is the real deal."
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If anyoneentered that hallway,
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regardless if they werelow to the floor or not,
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they were in serious trouble.
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ALVARO LLANOS: I remember him being in front of me until,
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like, a couple seconds later, he disappeared.
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SHAWN: I couldn't see anything.
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I started to feel the heat.
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It just was excruciating.
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ALVARO: The heat was so hot that,
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you know, it was burning--
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you felt it burning your skin and your hair and I was--
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I was scared for my life.
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As soon as I got to the doorway,
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I felt like a big patch like a fireball...
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I guess a ceiling part was falling
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and it fell on my back.
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That's when I ended up catching on fire.
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( SIRENS WAILING )
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As we're pulling uptowards Boland Hall,
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I see it wasall these students
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actually physically runningaway from the building.
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It was almost like maybe there was a shooter there.
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That's why the panic in these kids', students', faces.
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There's kids in all the windows hanging out the windows
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and dark, black smoke comin' out from over their heads.
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ROBIN: The fire was raging
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and Angie, Alvaro's girlfriend,
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lived on first floor and all she could think about is,
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"Where is he? Where is he?"
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And other students were trying to pull her out
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because the fire was closing in.
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The only thing that got her out of there
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was suddenly this boy, who she described as just black
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and didn't even look human,
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started rolling down the stairs who was on fire
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and she became so terrifiedshe didn't know at that moment
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that that was her boyfriend.
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CAPTAIN O'CONNOR: We're making our way in.
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This student is coming out and I could not tell you
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if it was a boy or a girl,
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completely burnt, smoking, no hair,
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their face was completely blackened.
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I cannot imaginehow these kids made it.
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MIKE: Parents were flocking to the campus
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to find their children
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because they knew by this time that there had been deaths
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but they didn't know who had died.
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Parents wanted to put their hands on their children
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to know that they were not the dead,
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that they were still alive.
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CHRISTINE SIMONS: Well, when I heard
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that three had died already and I couldn't find Shawn,
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that's when I really got scared
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and started crying and everything.
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When I went and asked the residence assistants
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about Shawn Simons and the way he said,
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"Oh, yes. Ken Simons," I screamed.
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I guess I was beginning to
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really to startthinkin' the worst.
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MIKE: Parents were-- were lined, I believe,
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behind a rope line
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and one of the parents of one of the boys who'd died
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had been with his son the night before
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at a basketball game
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and knew that his son was wearing a certain t-shirt
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with a pattern on the front.
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Jeffrey Cartwright of the Prosecutor's Office,
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who was leading the investigation,
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was emerging from the Medical Examiner's Office,
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when the fatherof one of the boys called out,
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desperate for information,desperate to know whether
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one of the dead were--was his son,
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"Did he have a certain--
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this certain patternon his t-shirt?"
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And Cartwright,he flinched at that
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and regretted doing it,
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for at that moment, the father fell to his knees...
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and said,"My life is over."
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And to a certain degree,it was.
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( RADIO CHATTER )
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ROBIN: This was the worst catastrophe
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on the largest scale
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that St. Barnabas had ever handled.
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In the emergency room, kids were crying,
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parents were screaming,
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nurses were crying,
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doctors were shouting orders.
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It may have been organized, but it was absolute chaos.
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EILEEN GEHRINGER: Just the sheer amount of numbers
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of students that I sawthat were waiting to be seen,
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covered in soot, crying,
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parents looking for their children,
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the volume of people that were milling around.
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Well, when the doctorsand the nurses
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first saw Shawn and Alvaro,
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they knew that these werecritically burned children
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who were near death.
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Both of themhad large injuries,
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third-degree burns.
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Both of them had smoke inhalation.
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ROBIN: They came into the emergency room,
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teams descended on them,
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and everything had to work so fast
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that there wasn't even time to grab a piece of paper.
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One nurse literally was writing Alvaro's condition
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on her-- on her scrubs.
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DR. HANI MANSOUR: Well, they were in distress.
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They were thrashing,they were in pain,
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they didn't knowexactly what happened
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and if they aregoing to survive.
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Shawn was absolutelyfighting for breath.
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He had severesmoke inhalation.
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ROBIN: There were doctors and nurses laying across him,
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holding him down;
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others were trying to shove this tube down his throat
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so he could breathe before his throat closed up
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and he couldn't breathe,
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and as a result there was bloodjust flying everywhere,
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and he was fighting them
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and they were trying to hold him down,
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and it was really a matter of life and death.
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DR. MANSOUR: Alvaro was the worst-looking one.
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Al, from the beginning,
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we didn't think that he was going to make it.
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CHRIS RUHREN: Al's skin
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was opening in second and third degree burns.
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His skin was off of his face, his arms, his chest, his legs.
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Essentially a person's bodyis melting away from them.
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ROBIN: There were nurses in tears
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when they saw Alvaro especially.
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There was one nurse who went out to meet him
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and touched his head and said she felt like
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that would be the last touchhe ever felt
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because she didn't thinkhe'd probably even make it
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out of the emergency room.
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Shawn, his hands were charred
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and you could just see the bone.
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They thought right away
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that his hands might have to be amputated that very first day
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and they were fightingto save his hands.
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CHRIS: It's really "are they going to make it through this"
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and how do you convey that message to their family,
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that they were healthy just five minutes ago
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and now they're on death's door.
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CHRISTINE: And I'm thinkin', once I get up to the hospital,
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00:13:18,431 --> 00:13:20,400
I'm gonna see Shawn sitting up in a chair
261
00:13:20,433 --> 00:13:24,838
with a sheet wrapped around him waiting to see the doctor.
262
00:13:24,872 --> 00:13:27,474
So, I'm still notthinking the worst.
263
00:13:27,507 --> 00:13:31,311
I'm just thinking that I've justgot to have time to see him.
264
00:13:31,344 --> 00:13:32,412
Mrs. Simons was--
265
00:13:32,445 --> 00:13:35,482
was brought in to see Shawnearly on before he was--
266
00:13:35,515 --> 00:13:36,349
he was wrapped up.
267
00:13:36,383 --> 00:13:37,384
CHRISTINE: He was connected up
268
00:13:37,417 --> 00:13:39,619
with all these plugs and everything,
269
00:13:39,652 --> 00:13:41,989
but I went over and I start talking to him,
270
00:13:42,022 --> 00:13:44,191
but he didn't respond to me.
271
00:13:44,224 --> 00:13:47,227
I rubbed his head,and when I rubbed his head,
272
00:13:47,260 --> 00:13:49,863
all of the hairjust fell off on the pillow,
273
00:13:49,897 --> 00:13:50,663
all of his curls.
274
00:13:50,697 --> 00:13:52,900
He had beautiful, curly hair.
275
00:13:57,137 --> 00:14:00,073
All of a sudden, I start feeling dizzy.
276
00:14:00,107 --> 00:14:01,608
They had to put me in the bed for awhile,
277
00:14:01,641 --> 00:14:03,343
give me medication.
278
00:14:03,376 --> 00:14:05,212
I panicked.Yes, I did.
279
00:14:05,245 --> 00:14:06,246
Yes, I did.
280
00:14:15,288 --> 00:14:17,590
EILEEN: Al's condition was worse than--
281
00:14:17,624 --> 00:14:20,560
than Shawn's as far as the amount of surface area
282
00:14:20,593 --> 00:14:21,561
that was burned.
283
00:14:21,594 --> 00:14:23,530
It was obvious, you know, he just,
284
00:14:23,563 --> 00:14:27,034
from head to toe there wasgoing to be such disfigurement.
285
00:14:28,936 --> 00:14:31,371
SHIRLEY LLANOS: I went in and my mom was like,
286
00:14:31,404 --> 00:14:32,940
"We're not going to cry,"
287
00:14:32,973 --> 00:14:34,641
because he could probably hear us.
288
00:14:34,674 --> 00:14:36,609
You can't cry.
289
00:14:36,643 --> 00:14:40,613
And I rememberthat when my dad fell,
290
00:14:40,647 --> 00:14:44,484
he fell on his kneesand he just started sobbing,
291
00:14:44,517 --> 00:14:47,054
and then I just started sobbing,
292
00:14:47,087 --> 00:14:50,490
and then my mom was telling us to please, like, you know,
293
00:14:50,523 --> 00:14:53,426
get out of the room because he could hear us.
294
00:14:53,460 --> 00:14:57,497
It was really difficult for meespecially because, you know,
295
00:14:57,530 --> 00:14:59,532
that was my younger brother.
296
00:15:01,601 --> 00:15:05,238
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
297
00:15:18,251 --> 00:15:21,188
( SIRENS WAILING )
298
00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:25,392
TV NEWS: The fire in a freshman dorm left three dead
299
00:15:25,425 --> 00:15:28,061
and sent 54 students to area hospitals.
300
00:15:28,095 --> 00:15:29,262
Investigators say the fire started
301
00:15:29,296 --> 00:15:31,965
at about 4:30 this morning on the third floor
302
00:15:31,999 --> 00:15:34,367
of the commons area of a freshman dorm
303
00:15:34,401 --> 00:15:35,702
called Boland Hall.
304
00:15:35,735 --> 00:15:38,138
Firefighters found two of the deceased in this area.
305
00:15:38,171 --> 00:15:40,607
A third victim was found in one of the rooms.
306
00:15:41,574 --> 00:15:43,543
Yeah, this is 2-1-4responding to Seton Hall...
307
00:15:43,576 --> 00:15:44,711
I remember getting the call.
308
00:15:44,744 --> 00:15:48,281
It was probably approximatelyabout five in the morning
309
00:15:48,315 --> 00:15:51,084
and they advised me that there was a dormitory fire
310
00:15:51,118 --> 00:15:52,519
at Seton Hall.
311
00:15:52,552 --> 00:15:56,189
They didn't have many details so basically I got my gear,
312
00:15:56,223 --> 00:15:57,690
I hopped in my vehicle,
313
00:15:57,724 --> 00:16:00,193
and started driving towards the scene.
314
00:16:03,496 --> 00:16:06,099
As we started walking down the hall, it kind of,
315
00:16:06,133 --> 00:16:07,767
you know, looked like a bombed-out building.
316
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,170
There was pieces of ceiling tiles,
317
00:16:10,203 --> 00:16:14,774
ceiling frames, wiring, just dark soot still,
318
00:16:14,807 --> 00:16:17,410
the layer of smoke in the air.
319
00:16:17,444 --> 00:16:19,279
Black, charred devastation.
320
00:16:19,312 --> 00:16:21,514
All fire scenes are--are the same.
321
00:16:21,548 --> 00:16:24,417
They're justcarbonized holes.
322
00:16:25,785 --> 00:16:30,290
JOHN FRUCCI: It was tremendously hot and still smoky.
323
00:16:30,323 --> 00:16:34,227
I remember almost searing my hair
324
00:16:34,261 --> 00:16:36,263
as I gravitated towards the lounge.
325
00:16:36,296 --> 00:16:38,498
The victims were not removed when I got there.
326
00:16:38,531 --> 00:16:40,800
They were still in place where they were.
327
00:16:40,833 --> 00:16:42,769
MIKE: One of the three students that died,
328
00:16:42,802 --> 00:16:44,237
he was discovered.
329
00:16:44,271 --> 00:16:46,439
There was an outline of where he lay
330
00:16:46,473 --> 00:16:52,479
as the soot from the fire settled after he fell
331
00:16:52,512 --> 00:16:56,783
and there is, in this haunting photo,
332
00:16:56,816 --> 00:17:00,153
just the outline of a young life lost
333
00:17:00,187 --> 00:17:02,689
and it's ghostlike.
334
00:17:05,258 --> 00:17:07,460
JOHN: When you do a-- a fire investigation,
335
00:17:07,494 --> 00:17:09,629
you startfrom the least damaged
336
00:17:09,662 --> 00:17:11,364
and then you goto the most damaged.
337
00:17:11,398 --> 00:17:14,301
MIKE: There were three heavily wood-framed sofas
338
00:17:14,334 --> 00:17:18,305
in that dormitory, and of the three,
339
00:17:18,338 --> 00:17:22,209
the couch on the west wall had heavier burn damage,
340
00:17:22,242 --> 00:17:25,745
more charring than either of the other two,
341
00:17:25,778 --> 00:17:28,181
so they workedon the presumption
342
00:17:28,215 --> 00:17:29,782
that that wasthe point of origin
343
00:17:29,816 --> 00:17:31,050
and they began their work there.
344
00:17:31,084 --> 00:17:36,156
It was treated like an archeological excavation,
345
00:17:36,189 --> 00:17:40,127
that they removed debris layer-by-layer,
346
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,396
sort and sift each layer as they go.
347
00:17:43,430 --> 00:17:45,798
JOHN: We ruled out a lot of accidental causes,
348
00:17:45,832 --> 00:17:49,236
so that left, to me, two causes:
349
00:17:49,269 --> 00:17:53,106
either smoldering cigaretteor an intentionally-set fire.
350
00:17:53,140 --> 00:17:54,107
CHIEF JEFF MARKEY: There was a disturbance
351
00:17:54,141 --> 00:17:55,775
right before this fire,
352
00:17:55,808 --> 00:17:59,112
so I was suspicious immediately.
353
00:17:59,146 --> 00:18:00,713
We locked this down.
354
00:18:00,747 --> 00:18:04,584
Whoever set this fire, if it was indeed arson,
355
00:18:04,617 --> 00:18:06,719
that we were going toprotect this evidence
356
00:18:06,753 --> 00:18:08,555
and we were going to make surethat somebody
357
00:18:08,588 --> 00:18:10,490
was going to be heldaccountable for this.
358
00:18:20,867 --> 00:18:23,903
ROBIN: The parents on that first night
359
00:18:23,936 --> 00:18:28,408
just wanted any information, anything about their boys.
360
00:18:28,441 --> 00:18:29,409
Would they live?
361
00:18:29,442 --> 00:18:30,677
Would they die?
362
00:18:30,710 --> 00:18:33,446
And Dr. Mansour said that he felt at such a loss
363
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,415
because he--he just couldn't tell them
364
00:18:35,448 --> 00:18:39,486
whether they'd live or die,and in fact he thought they--
365
00:18:39,519 --> 00:18:41,688
they both may well notmake it through the night.
366
00:18:46,459 --> 00:18:47,894
Well, there was a little waiting room
367
00:18:47,927 --> 00:18:49,829
outside of the Burn ICU.
368
00:18:49,862 --> 00:18:53,533
Mrs. Llanos in particular would just stare at the clock
369
00:18:53,566 --> 00:18:55,302
and it would seem,she would say,
370
00:18:55,335 --> 00:18:57,704
as if the clock never moved.
371
00:19:00,973 --> 00:19:03,276
SHIRLEY: She would sit in the waiting room for hours.
372
00:19:03,310 --> 00:19:04,944
If they were doing treatment on him,
373
00:19:04,977 --> 00:19:06,813
she was always there,always there
374
00:19:06,846 --> 00:19:09,916
and it was like as if timewas just standing still.
375
00:19:09,949 --> 00:19:12,619
But it's liketime's not going anywhere.
376
00:19:12,652 --> 00:19:14,321
It's like I'm stuck.
377
00:19:14,354 --> 00:19:16,389
The hand is stuck on a certain time
378
00:19:16,423 --> 00:19:17,890
and it's not moving
379
00:19:17,924 --> 00:19:19,125
because there's nothing you can do
380
00:19:19,158 --> 00:19:23,296
but just sit there and wait and wait and wait.
381
00:19:33,473 --> 00:19:35,875
( BEEPING )
382
00:19:44,417 --> 00:19:48,255
( CLOCK TICKING )
383
00:19:52,925 --> 00:19:54,727
ROBIN: The very first thing they do
384
00:19:54,761 --> 00:19:59,599
is take these burned patients into the tank room which--
385
00:19:59,632 --> 00:20:02,469
which patients callthe torture chamber.
386
00:20:05,738 --> 00:20:07,540
They did explain to usthe tank room
387
00:20:07,574 --> 00:20:10,610
and how it's scalingoff the skin and--
388
00:20:10,643 --> 00:20:12,479
and I mean,I couldn't even imagine
389
00:20:12,512 --> 00:20:14,347
how painful it would be.
390
00:20:15,382 --> 00:20:17,950
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
391
00:20:23,723 --> 00:20:24,991
ROY BOND: It's gotta be like you're handcuffed
392
00:20:25,024 --> 00:20:26,959
or duct-tapedinto a situation
393
00:20:26,993 --> 00:20:28,928
that you can'tget yourself out of.
394
00:20:28,961 --> 00:20:32,399
They're not able to say,"I'm in pain, please stop."
395
00:20:32,432 --> 00:20:33,733
You have to clean these wounds.
396
00:20:33,766 --> 00:20:36,369
You have to see how extensive they-- they are burned.
397
00:20:36,403 --> 00:20:39,872
The most sufferingis during the scrubbing.
398
00:20:39,906 --> 00:20:42,609
This is where the suffering-- this is where--
399
00:20:42,642 --> 00:20:43,610
what we have the--
400
00:20:43,643 --> 00:20:46,346
the "silent scream" that occurs.
401
00:20:46,379 --> 00:20:48,815
ROBIN: I actually saw Alvaro at one point,
402
00:20:48,848 --> 00:20:50,082
in a deep coma,
403
00:20:50,116 --> 00:20:52,985
and I actually watched one timewhen he-- he went like that.
404
00:20:53,019 --> 00:20:54,521
He still felt the pain.
405
00:20:54,554 --> 00:20:55,622
( BEEPING )
406
00:20:55,655 --> 00:20:58,691
It is a brutal, brutal place.
407
00:20:58,725 --> 00:21:00,693
If we give themtoo much painkillers,
408
00:21:00,727 --> 00:21:02,962
then we have to dealwith the complications
409
00:21:02,995 --> 00:21:04,331
related to the painkillers.
410
00:21:04,364 --> 00:21:05,398
They are toxic.
411
00:21:05,432 --> 00:21:06,833
So, even though he was heavily sedated,
412
00:21:06,866 --> 00:21:08,267
he was still there.
413
00:21:08,301 --> 00:21:13,272
He was still aware, in a way, without being able to react.
414
00:21:15,007 --> 00:21:16,776
EILEEN: When you would turn Shawn or Al,
415
00:21:16,809 --> 00:21:18,678
or you would do something that was unpleasant,
416
00:21:18,711 --> 00:21:21,047
they would bite down on the end of the tracheal tube
417
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:23,850
that was keeping them alive and you'd just know
418
00:21:23,883 --> 00:21:24,984
that they want to tell you something
419
00:21:25,017 --> 00:21:27,687
and you know this is what you have to do,
420
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,556
this is your job, but you just constantly say,
421
00:21:29,589 --> 00:21:31,324
"I'm so sorry.I'm so sorry," you know,
422
00:21:31,358 --> 00:21:34,561
and you're just using4X4 gauze and--
423
00:21:34,594 --> 00:21:37,864
but to them it feels like a,oh, steel-wire brush.
424
00:21:40,032 --> 00:21:41,000
DR. MANSOUR: Sometimes, you know,
425
00:21:41,033 --> 00:21:42,201
when you are doing the work
426
00:21:42,234 --> 00:21:44,103
and you are concentrating on the work, you--
427
00:21:44,136 --> 00:21:48,541
you forget that you have a human being there,
428
00:21:48,575 --> 00:21:51,444
and this is where we have toalways remind ourselves that,
429
00:21:51,478 --> 00:21:54,347
"Just a moment.Are we really hurting him?
430
00:21:54,381 --> 00:21:56,683
Did he get enough sedation?"
431
00:21:56,716 --> 00:21:59,752
( BEEPING )
432
00:22:09,028 --> 00:22:12,098
ROBIN: For three months, Alvaro just lay in a coma.
433
00:22:12,131 --> 00:22:13,466
He was wrapped like a mummy.
434
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:15,435
All you could seewere his eyes
435
00:22:15,468 --> 00:22:17,103
and his fingertipsand his toes.
436
00:22:17,136 --> 00:22:19,939
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
437
00:22:31,884 --> 00:22:33,453
We essentially take awayyour whole identity
438
00:22:33,486 --> 00:22:34,887
when you come inas a burn patient,
439
00:22:34,921 --> 00:22:37,957
so we are breathing for you, we are giving you your fluids,
440
00:22:37,990 --> 00:22:39,559
we are making sure your heart is beating
441
00:22:39,592 --> 00:22:41,561
the way we want it to;
442
00:22:41,594 --> 00:22:42,762
we are making sure you are putting out
443
00:22:42,795 --> 00:22:43,696
what we need you to put out,
444
00:22:43,730 --> 00:22:47,099
so you pretty muchhave no control anymore.
445
00:22:47,133 --> 00:22:48,835
We are in controlof your body.
446
00:22:48,868 --> 00:22:51,938
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
447
00:22:51,971 --> 00:22:53,039
SHANY: It became extremely difficult
448
00:22:53,072 --> 00:22:55,675
for my mom because she became desperate
449
00:22:55,708 --> 00:22:57,109
and wanted to see something from him,
450
00:22:57,143 --> 00:23:00,413
some type of movement,a blink of an eye,
451
00:23:00,447 --> 00:23:01,981
just to know that--that he was okay.
452
00:23:02,014 --> 00:23:03,816
SHIRLEY: My mom, she was very strong,
453
00:23:03,850 --> 00:23:05,652
but she did not want to leave his side
454
00:23:05,685 --> 00:23:08,154
because in casehe would open his eyes,
455
00:23:08,187 --> 00:23:10,423
she wanted to be there.
456
00:23:10,457 --> 00:23:13,793
( BEEPING )
457
00:23:13,826 --> 00:23:16,796
ROBIN: These mothers just would sit
458
00:23:16,829 --> 00:23:20,567
by their children's bedside for weeks without knowing
459
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,104
whether they were going towatch their child die.
460
00:23:25,137 --> 00:23:27,440
( BEEPING )
461
00:23:27,474 --> 00:23:28,808
CHRISTINE: You hear all these sounds
462
00:23:28,841 --> 00:23:31,110
and everything of the buzzers
463
00:23:31,143 --> 00:23:33,913
of everything that's going onand whatnot
464
00:23:33,946 --> 00:23:37,116
and then they would take him out of the room.
465
00:23:37,149 --> 00:23:40,620
I would just sit therewith that empty space
466
00:23:40,653 --> 00:23:42,789
and I felt helpless.
467
00:23:46,993 --> 00:23:51,764
Mothers are supposed to protect their children regardless
468
00:23:51,798 --> 00:23:56,135
and I felt like I was letting Shawn down
469
00:23:56,168 --> 00:23:59,038
because I'm in a position right now
470
00:23:59,071 --> 00:24:02,842
where I can't do anything for him
471
00:24:02,875 --> 00:24:08,080
and I really felt that I wasletting him down as a mother.
472
00:24:08,114 --> 00:24:11,117
It's very sad because, again,his whole face
473
00:24:11,150 --> 00:24:13,019
and his whole identityis going to change,
474
00:24:13,052 --> 00:24:15,722
but what doesn't change is the inside of them
475
00:24:15,755 --> 00:24:18,525
and that's very difficult for people to realize.
476
00:24:21,894 --> 00:24:25,131
MIKE: It's enormously frustrating to know that a fire
477
00:24:25,164 --> 00:24:31,203
that killed three, injured 56 - five terribly -
478
00:24:31,237 --> 00:24:35,775
was set by someoneand you don't know who it is.
479
00:24:35,808 --> 00:24:38,878
We had two witnesses,both ear witnesses,
480
00:24:38,911 --> 00:24:41,247
and they har--they described it as a--
481
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,784
a ripping of paper noise,so we questioned the people
482
00:24:44,817 --> 00:24:46,819
"what would be the loud tearing noise?"
483
00:24:46,853 --> 00:24:49,488
and we came to the conclusion it was the bulletin board.
484
00:24:50,890 --> 00:24:53,893
MIKE: And no one was coming forward with any information
485
00:24:53,926 --> 00:24:55,261
about who set it.
486
00:24:55,294 --> 00:24:57,864
The first real indicator
487
00:24:57,897 --> 00:25:01,100
was an interviewwith one of the defendants.
488
00:25:02,635 --> 00:25:04,971
JOHN: Shawn Ryan was one of the students on the floor.
489
00:25:05,004 --> 00:25:07,774
He was coming in like everybody else for interviews.
490
00:25:07,807 --> 00:25:09,642
The subject of the lounge comes up
491
00:25:09,676 --> 00:25:11,544
and the pulling down the paper,
492
00:25:11,578 --> 00:25:16,248
and we knew there was something more there
493
00:25:16,282 --> 00:25:18,885
and then we got tothe breaking point.
494
00:25:18,918 --> 00:25:23,990
"Okay, I tore the paper down,but I didn't set it on fire."
495
00:25:26,158 --> 00:25:28,995
This electrifiedthe interviewers.
496
00:25:29,028 --> 00:25:34,834
How did this student know that there was paper
497
00:25:34,867 --> 00:25:37,203
that was set on fire?
498
00:25:37,236 --> 00:25:42,341
This brought the first suspicionto Shawn Ryan.
499
00:25:42,374 --> 00:25:46,713
The belief in the room was that he absolutely knew
500
00:25:46,746 --> 00:25:49,982
how and by whom this fire was started
501
00:25:50,016 --> 00:25:53,285
and was wrestling with himselfat that moment
502
00:25:53,319 --> 00:25:57,189
whether to confessor whether to conceal.
503
00:25:57,223 --> 00:26:00,627
And that was the last time that we ever spoke to him
504
00:26:00,660 --> 00:26:02,662
without his counsel.
505
00:26:04,864 --> 00:26:06,866
MIKE: According to a fraternity brother,
506
00:26:06,899 --> 00:26:10,837
Ryan and LePore told him that they had been sleeping
507
00:26:10,870 --> 00:26:13,372
until the sound of the fire alarm.
508
00:26:13,405 --> 00:26:15,975
That contradicted the subsequent statements
509
00:26:16,008 --> 00:26:20,680
of both Ryan and LePore who said they were awake
510
00:26:20,713 --> 00:26:23,115
up until the timeof the fire alarm
511
00:26:23,149 --> 00:26:26,018
and there was one interesting news interview
512
00:26:26,052 --> 00:26:31,824
with Joseph LePore where he's describing...
513
00:26:31,858 --> 00:26:33,793
...smoke, I see peoplehanging out of the windows,
514
00:26:33,826 --> 00:26:35,628
and there was justa lot of smoke.
515
00:26:35,662 --> 00:26:38,631
Whereas anyone else that wasanywhere near that fire scene
516
00:26:38,665 --> 00:26:41,033
had a face that had beenblackened by the soot.
517
00:26:41,067 --> 00:26:43,302
You couldn't even see ten in--
518
00:26:43,335 --> 00:26:44,303
ten inchesin front of your face.
519
00:26:44,336 --> 00:26:45,604
One of the thingsthat went through our heads
520
00:26:45,638 --> 00:26:51,277
was the gall of this young man,actually taking to the camera
521
00:26:51,310 --> 00:26:56,849
minutes after participating in that deadly blaze.
522
00:26:56,883 --> 00:26:59,986
We also thoughtit was good evidence
523
00:27:00,019 --> 00:27:02,021
that he was lying.
524
00:27:03,322 --> 00:27:12,865
* Oh oh oh oh oh dulcis Virgo Maria *
525
00:27:21,473 --> 00:27:27,079
JOE KAROL: We had to have a closed coffin and we--
526
00:27:27,113 --> 00:27:29,348
that last nightthat we talked about it earlier,
527
00:27:29,381 --> 00:27:31,183
when we saw himthat Monday night,
528
00:27:31,217 --> 00:27:34,153
that wasn't just the last timewe saw him alive,
529
00:27:34,186 --> 00:27:37,223
that was the last timewe saw him, period,
530
00:27:37,256 --> 00:27:40,960
because we couldn't havean open coffin.
531
00:27:46,966 --> 00:27:48,134
JOANNE: And for us, we--
532
00:27:48,167 --> 00:27:53,172
we went through the tragedyfrom four o'clock in the morning
533
00:27:53,205 --> 00:27:54,741
when we first gotthe first phone call
534
00:27:54,774 --> 00:27:56,776
that there was a fire,
535
00:27:56,809 --> 00:28:02,114
to identify something of him that was left
536
00:28:02,148 --> 00:28:05,217
and it was difficult.
537
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:08,320
It was a very difficult day.
538
00:28:11,190 --> 00:28:13,392
CANDY KAROL: It was extremely important
539
00:28:13,425 --> 00:28:16,295
that they get to the bottom of this.
540
00:28:16,328 --> 00:28:19,465
Just to know the dedicationthat they would have to find out
541
00:28:19,498 --> 00:28:23,936
who murdered our sonwas very important.
542
00:28:28,474 --> 00:28:30,076
MIKE: Yes, it must have been very difficult
543
00:28:30,109 --> 00:28:33,946
for the parents to watch their sons being buried
544
00:28:33,980 --> 00:28:36,415
knowing that someonehad killed them
545
00:28:36,448 --> 00:28:38,785
and not knowing who it was.
546
00:28:38,818 --> 00:28:41,053
It would be impossibleto digest the grief
547
00:28:41,087 --> 00:28:44,356
of burying your 19-year-old son anyway,
548
00:28:44,390 --> 00:28:46,492
but that was just salt in the wound.
549
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,096
I believe God does not equip us
550
00:28:50,129 --> 00:28:53,499
to absorb the blow of our children pre-deceasing us.
551
00:28:54,533 --> 00:28:55,567
JOANNE: It's a nightmare
552
00:28:55,601 --> 00:28:58,838
that parents don't want to think about.
553
00:28:58,871 --> 00:29:01,140
To lose a childis the worst.
554
00:29:07,579 --> 00:29:12,351
CANDY: I cannot and will never, ever forgive them.
555
00:29:12,384 --> 00:29:15,187
Even though I know God tells me I should,
556
00:29:15,221 --> 00:29:17,189
the human part of me comes out and says,
557
00:29:17,223 --> 00:29:21,360
"No, I can't forgive themfor taking our son."
558
00:29:27,333 --> 00:29:30,169
( EERIE MUSIC PLAYING )
559
00:29:37,509 --> 00:29:40,813
ROBIN: I've never witnessed that much pain,
560
00:29:40,847 --> 00:29:42,214
that much suffering.
561
00:29:42,248 --> 00:29:47,319
Shawn and Alvaro suffered so horribly.
562
00:29:47,353 --> 00:29:50,189
The unit was just-- it pulsed with pain.
563
00:29:50,222 --> 00:29:51,323
It really did.
564
00:29:53,525 --> 00:29:55,895
Skin grafting is extensive surgery,
565
00:29:55,928 --> 00:29:58,130
and it's very delicate surgery,
566
00:29:58,164 --> 00:30:01,200
and initially we're grafting to cover the wounds.
567
00:30:07,506 --> 00:30:11,077
CHRIS: They would borrow some skin from their thighs
568
00:30:11,110 --> 00:30:14,046
or, in Al's case, an area that wasn't burned.
569
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,115
Now you have another patchof an area
570
00:30:16,148 --> 00:30:17,984
that is an open piece of skin
571
00:30:18,017 --> 00:30:19,919
and eventually that has to heal as well.
572
00:30:19,952 --> 00:30:22,354
The extent of injury that Al--that Al had,
573
00:30:22,388 --> 00:30:24,323
to turn him,it took several of us
574
00:30:24,356 --> 00:30:26,092
just to gently roll him on his side
575
00:30:26,125 --> 00:30:30,462
and to do his back, which was horribly burned,
576
00:30:30,496 --> 00:30:31,730
and just keep saying you're sorry
577
00:30:31,763 --> 00:30:34,566
and just feel terrible as to what you have to do,
578
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,269
but you're comforted in the factthat what you're doing
579
00:30:37,303 --> 00:30:39,238
is going toultimately help them.
580
00:30:42,641 --> 00:30:45,144
( BEEPING )
581
00:30:45,177 --> 00:30:47,947
Dr. Mansourhas been the driving force
582
00:30:47,980 --> 00:30:49,481
here at the Burn Center.
583
00:30:49,515 --> 00:30:53,285
He's always had a very soft spot for the children
584
00:30:53,319 --> 00:30:55,955
and these were two children that were admitted
585
00:30:55,988 --> 00:30:59,491
and their suffering is-- touches him very deeply
586
00:30:59,525 --> 00:31:01,627
and he does anythingthat he can to--
587
00:31:01,660 --> 00:31:03,095
to eradicate that.
588
00:31:04,964 --> 00:31:07,099
His first burn patient,he was a child
589
00:31:07,133 --> 00:31:09,001
and he was growing upin Beirut
590
00:31:09,035 --> 00:31:11,637
and he heardthis horrible scream,
591
00:31:11,670 --> 00:31:13,239
as he describes it,
592
00:31:13,272 --> 00:31:15,908
and he asked the nurse, "What is that?"
593
00:31:15,942 --> 00:31:18,945
and-- and the woman said, "That's a burned patient,"
594
00:31:18,978 --> 00:31:21,680
and Dr. Mansour said,"Well, why don't you help him?"
595
00:31:21,713 --> 00:31:23,315
and she said,"There's nothing we can do
596
00:31:23,349 --> 00:31:24,951
except wait for him to die."
597
00:31:24,984 --> 00:31:27,419
DR. MANSOUR: When I saw these massive burns,
598
00:31:27,453 --> 00:31:30,522
it ignited this distress that I had
599
00:31:30,556 --> 00:31:33,459
when I heard that nobody'sdoing anything to help him
600
00:31:33,492 --> 00:31:35,327
because they couldn'tdo anything to help him.
601
00:31:35,361 --> 00:31:38,497
He never, ever forgotthat sound of that patient
602
00:31:38,530 --> 00:31:41,533
and so, as he grew up, he--he decided
603
00:31:41,567 --> 00:31:43,502
that that was something he needed to do
604
00:31:43,535 --> 00:31:47,039
and that he was going to helpburn patients.
605
00:31:52,144 --> 00:31:54,246
The job in the Burn Unit,
606
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,016
I can't imagine more thana handful of people in the world
607
00:31:57,049 --> 00:31:58,417
could or would do it.
608
00:31:58,450 --> 00:31:59,685
ROY: To work here,
609
00:31:59,718 --> 00:32:02,054
you have to be physically and emotionally strong
610
00:32:02,088 --> 00:32:04,423
because of what you're dealing with every day,
611
00:32:04,456 --> 00:32:06,358
I mean, again, pain.
612
00:32:06,392 --> 00:32:08,027
I mean,there's no pain like that
613
00:32:08,060 --> 00:32:10,396
anywhere else in this hospitalthat I've seen.
614
00:32:10,429 --> 00:32:12,999
These burn nurseshave had to cradle
615
00:32:13,032 --> 00:32:14,933
burned babiesto their death.
616
00:32:18,304 --> 00:32:21,007
They say the kidsare the worst
617
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:28,047
and you can see when a kidcomes into the Burn Unit,
618
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:29,748
they can, you know,they hold it together
619
00:32:29,781 --> 00:32:35,154
'cause they're so strong,but afterward, they fall apart.
620
00:32:38,657 --> 00:32:42,995
Alvaro's girlfriend Angie was 18 years old.
621
00:32:43,029 --> 00:32:47,699
He was her first real boyfriend,she was his first girlfriend.
622
00:32:47,733 --> 00:32:50,402
They were very much in love,young kids in love.
623
00:32:50,436 --> 00:32:53,372
SHANY: I was extremely close to Angie.
624
00:32:53,405 --> 00:32:55,541
We would tell each other our secrets.
625
00:32:55,574 --> 00:32:57,109
I remember when this happenedto my brother,
626
00:32:57,143 --> 00:32:59,745
we would stay up late at nighttalking and crying,
627
00:32:59,778 --> 00:33:01,247
talking about my brother.
628
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,183
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
629
00:33:09,588 --> 00:33:13,659
Angie would-- just wantedto touch him so much
630
00:33:13,692 --> 00:33:15,361
and the only partthat she could touch
631
00:33:15,394 --> 00:33:19,298
were his toes,and so she would take cream
632
00:33:19,331 --> 00:33:21,267
and she would just cream his toes
633
00:33:21,300 --> 00:33:23,202
and just massage his toes
634
00:33:23,235 --> 00:33:25,537
just so she could touch part of him.
635
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,809
SHIRLEY: Angie used to write him letters and, like,
636
00:33:30,842 --> 00:33:33,212
put a kiss on it and it was, like,
637
00:33:33,245 --> 00:33:35,114
just all over his room.
638
00:33:36,682 --> 00:33:38,784
CHRISTINE: She stayed out of school for two weeks
639
00:33:38,817 --> 00:33:41,787
and she was up at that hospitalevery day, every second.
640
00:33:41,820 --> 00:33:43,789
SHIRLEY: She never went out with her friends.
641
00:33:43,822 --> 00:33:46,225
She spent her days at his bedside,
642
00:33:46,258 --> 00:33:47,626
and when she wasn't at his bedside,
643
00:33:47,659 --> 00:33:50,762
she was translating between the doctors and his parents.
644
00:33:50,796 --> 00:33:52,798
CHRISTINE: She would bring music up to the--
645
00:33:52,831 --> 00:33:55,567
into the room to let him listen to the different musics
646
00:33:55,601 --> 00:33:59,138
and everything and she was just always there for him.
647
00:34:00,172 --> 00:34:04,176
We did all think that thisis gonna be tough for her,
648
00:34:04,210 --> 00:34:05,411
you know.
649
00:34:05,444 --> 00:34:09,381
She's a young girl and she's 18 and there's a--
650
00:34:09,415 --> 00:34:12,384
a boy in front of her that has his whole life changed.
651
00:34:25,364 --> 00:34:27,233
CHRISTINE: We were at the hospital together so much
652
00:34:27,266 --> 00:34:30,569
it's like we became one family.
653
00:34:30,602 --> 00:34:35,707
We became roommates becausewe shared the same waiting room.
654
00:34:35,741 --> 00:34:37,643
We did everything together.
655
00:34:40,912 --> 00:34:42,348
EILEEN: And the families would sit together
656
00:34:42,381 --> 00:34:43,882
and they would talk about the boys
657
00:34:43,915 --> 00:34:45,884
and they kind of drew strengthfrom each other,
658
00:34:45,917 --> 00:34:48,120
even with the language barrier,at times.
659
00:34:48,154 --> 00:34:51,123
ROBIN: Mrs. Simons took it upon herself
660
00:34:51,157 --> 00:34:55,894
to take Daisy and her husband under her wing
661
00:34:55,927 --> 00:34:58,130
because they weremuch more vulnerable,
662
00:34:58,164 --> 00:35:01,733
much more fragilethan Mrs. Simons.
663
00:35:01,767 --> 00:35:06,405
We start talking to each otherabout our children before,
664
00:35:06,438 --> 00:35:07,573
you know, the way it was, and--
665
00:35:07,606 --> 00:35:10,309
and we really bondlike a family.
666
00:35:10,342 --> 00:35:12,744
SHIRLEY: We grew very close to the Simons during the--
667
00:35:12,778 --> 00:35:14,680
the time when they were both in a coma.
668
00:35:14,713 --> 00:35:18,417
Like, we were constantly together, you know,
669
00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:19,785
supporting each other,
670
00:35:19,818 --> 00:35:20,952
helping each other in tough times.
671
00:35:20,986 --> 00:35:23,922
There were times whereI would cry or my mom would cry
672
00:35:23,955 --> 00:35:25,424
or Shawn's moms would cry
673
00:35:25,457 --> 00:35:27,493
and we would just hug each other.
674
00:35:32,964 --> 00:35:38,670
SHANY: When Shawn woke up and he was able to respond to us,
675
00:35:38,704 --> 00:35:41,340
I do remember the excitement.
676
00:35:41,373 --> 00:35:42,474
SHAWN SIMONS: I kind of looked around
677
00:35:42,508 --> 00:35:43,942
and, I'm lookin' like, "Hey, where am I?"
678
00:35:43,975 --> 00:35:47,313
I was very weak and I saw, you know,
679
00:35:47,346 --> 00:35:50,582
a face come into my-- my eyesight,
680
00:35:50,616 --> 00:35:54,653
and it was one of the nurses and she said, you know,
681
00:35:54,686 --> 00:35:55,687
"You're all right."
682
00:35:56,655 --> 00:35:59,525
Knowing that he wasalmost not gonna make it
683
00:35:59,558 --> 00:36:01,527
to now he's gonna make it.
684
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,763
You know, that is, again, like the Fourth of July.
685
00:36:04,796 --> 00:36:07,399
It's a great day.
686
00:36:07,433 --> 00:36:09,535
After Shawn woke upin the tank room,
687
00:36:09,568 --> 00:36:10,669
they brought himback to his room,
688
00:36:10,702 --> 00:36:12,871
and now all the nursescan't wait until
689
00:36:12,904 --> 00:36:16,808
Christine and Kenny,his parents, walk in,
690
00:36:16,842 --> 00:36:18,944
and all the nurses are watching them and saying,
691
00:36:18,977 --> 00:36:20,612
"Ooh, we have a surprise for you!"
692
00:36:20,646 --> 00:36:21,847
CHRISTINE: I just screamed.
693
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:26,685
I was just so-- I was so happy.
694
00:36:26,718 --> 00:36:32,424
I-I was just full of tearsbecause that was my Shawn.
695
00:36:32,458 --> 00:36:34,460
My Shawn was back with me.
696
00:36:36,027 --> 00:36:37,796
SHAWN: It just gave me that warmth that, you know,
697
00:36:37,829 --> 00:36:40,999
she was-- you know, she was--she was there this time.
698
00:36:41,032 --> 00:36:43,435
It wasn't this stranger.It was my mother.
699
00:36:45,871 --> 00:36:47,873
CHRISTINE: The first words that came out of Shawn's mouth--
700
00:36:47,906 --> 00:36:53,312
and I would never forget it--he said, "Mom, where were you?"
701
00:36:53,345 --> 00:36:56,482
and-- and I cried.
702
00:36:56,515 --> 00:36:58,717
I said, "Shawn,I never left your side.
703
00:36:58,750 --> 00:37:00,519
I was always here with you."
704
00:37:03,822 --> 00:37:06,725
Shawn really wanted tocommunicate with his mother.
705
00:37:06,758 --> 00:37:07,893
He kept trying to talk,
706
00:37:07,926 --> 00:37:09,695
but of course he had tubes down his throat
707
00:37:09,728 --> 00:37:12,964
so he couldn't speak, and so a nurse ran
708
00:37:12,998 --> 00:37:16,735
and got this page with the alphabet on it
709
00:37:16,768 --> 00:37:20,572
and he pointed out "How's Al?"
710
00:37:21,773 --> 00:37:24,576
CHRISTINE: I told Shawn, "He's in another room,"
711
00:37:24,610 --> 00:37:29,448
but we never told Shawn the extent of Al's injuries.
712
00:37:32,551 --> 00:37:33,719
ROBIN: Shawn used to fantasize
713
00:37:33,752 --> 00:37:37,356
that Alvaro was going to walk through his door
714
00:37:37,389 --> 00:37:41,927
and be even with himin his recovery and--
715
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,297
and challenge him to seewho could get better first,
716
00:37:45,331 --> 00:37:47,966
and I actually think that got him through
717
00:37:47,999 --> 00:37:52,304
a lot of very, very lonely, scary nights.
718
00:37:55,441 --> 00:37:58,009
Shawn was always thinking about Alvaro.
719
00:37:58,043 --> 00:38:00,078
He would ask all the nurses, "How's my roommate?"
720
00:38:00,111 --> 00:38:02,047
and they'd say, "We're taking care of him.
721
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:03,982
He's fine," and he didn't believe them.
722
00:38:04,015 --> 00:38:06,685
Instinctively he knewthat Al was in terrible shape.
723
00:38:06,718 --> 00:38:09,821
Shawn, I didn't knowuntil he started to wake up,
724
00:38:09,855 --> 00:38:12,691
that his concernwas not about himself,
725
00:38:12,724 --> 00:38:13,692
it was about Alvaro.
726
00:38:13,725 --> 00:38:15,961
"How's Al?How's he doing?"
727
00:38:15,994 --> 00:38:18,564
I just remembered that,you know, my mother always said
728
00:38:18,597 --> 00:38:20,432
that Al was two doors down.
729
00:38:20,466 --> 00:38:24,403
I try my best every day to walk a little further
730
00:38:24,436 --> 00:38:28,774
and when I got to the second room
731
00:38:28,807 --> 00:38:31,843
that was down from mine, I kind of peeked in,
732
00:38:31,877 --> 00:38:34,613
and I saw his parents
733
00:38:34,646 --> 00:38:36,615
and that's how I knew that it was--
734
00:38:36,648 --> 00:38:37,616
that it was Alvaro.
735
00:38:37,649 --> 00:38:39,885
( BEEPING )
736
00:38:39,918 --> 00:38:43,088
His full body was covered in gauze.
737
00:38:43,121 --> 00:38:48,093
I was up and I felt like he shouldn't be like that.
738
00:38:48,126 --> 00:38:51,563
( BEEPING )
739
00:38:51,597 --> 00:38:54,466
CHRISTINE: He had become very, very angry
740
00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:57,102
and we didn't understand why.
741
00:38:57,135 --> 00:39:02,340
He was blaming himself for what happened to Al.
742
00:39:04,743 --> 00:39:07,112
And one day I asked him, "Why have you been so angry?
743
00:39:07,145 --> 00:39:09,448
That's not you,"
744
00:39:09,481 --> 00:39:11,683
and then that's whenhe broke down and he told me.
745
00:39:11,717 --> 00:39:12,884
SHAWN: My mother said to me,
746
00:39:12,918 --> 00:39:15,153
"You have to be strong in order to, you know,
747
00:39:15,186 --> 00:39:16,287
help him get through this,"
748
00:39:16,321 --> 00:39:19,425
and from that day on, I just made it a--
749
00:39:19,458 --> 00:39:21,560
a-- a effort to visit himevery day
750
00:39:21,593 --> 00:39:23,562
and talk to him every day.
751
00:39:23,595 --> 00:39:24,796
I needed to be there for him.
752
00:39:24,830 --> 00:39:28,700
I just felt like we both had been through this, you know,
753
00:39:28,734 --> 00:39:31,570
this fire together, and if I'm strong enough to--
754
00:39:31,603 --> 00:39:32,538
to-- to get through it,
755
00:39:32,571 --> 00:39:34,440
that he's strong enoughto get through it.
756
00:39:36,708 --> 00:39:39,845
( BACKGROUND TALKING )
757
00:39:49,154 --> 00:39:50,355
SHIRLEY: I was very happy
758
00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:53,592
when Shawn finally opened his eyes and woke up.
759
00:39:53,625 --> 00:39:55,894
I was happy for his family,
760
00:39:55,927 --> 00:39:58,830
but at the same time I felt anxiety
761
00:39:58,864 --> 00:40:00,966
because I wanted the same thingfor my brother
762
00:40:00,999 --> 00:40:03,635
and I wish it could've happenedat the same time.
763
00:40:03,669 --> 00:40:06,805
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
764
00:40:11,510 --> 00:40:14,446
The Llanoses felt certain
765
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:15,981
that they were going tolose their boy,
766
00:40:16,014 --> 00:40:17,015
their pride and joy.
767
00:40:18,216 --> 00:40:21,086
CHRIS: She was very emotional, very emotional,
768
00:40:21,119 --> 00:40:24,022
and to me she had a very normal reaction
769
00:40:24,055 --> 00:40:25,290
of a mother to a son.
770
00:40:25,323 --> 00:40:29,561
You know, Al was the caretaker,we found out, in the house,
771
00:40:29,595 --> 00:40:31,930
and now her caretakerwas not going to be there.
772
00:40:31,963 --> 00:40:34,132
It was really toughfor a while.
773
00:40:34,165 --> 00:40:36,602
Like, my dad had had a stroke.
774
00:40:36,635 --> 00:40:38,937
He himself was in ICU.
775
00:40:38,970 --> 00:40:42,007
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
776
00:40:54,152 --> 00:40:55,987
Our family had already
777
00:40:56,021 --> 00:41:01,893
went through so much alreadythat this was just added on.
778
00:41:15,907 --> 00:41:18,276
ROBIN: When Shawn finally saw himself,
779
00:41:18,309 --> 00:41:20,679
his face was-- was pretty burned
780
00:41:20,712 --> 00:41:21,680
and his hands were-- were--
781
00:41:21,713 --> 00:41:25,584
were just completely disfigured.
782
00:41:28,219 --> 00:41:30,789
He was angrythat his appearance had changed.
783
00:41:32,290 --> 00:41:33,458
CHRISTINE: He just cried like a little baby
784
00:41:33,491 --> 00:41:36,194
that first day that he looked in that mirror.
785
00:41:36,227 --> 00:41:37,996
You-- you want to sit thereand cry with them
786
00:41:38,029 --> 00:41:39,665
because you knowthat's what they want to do.
787
00:41:39,698 --> 00:41:41,199
They, you know,"What happened to me?
788
00:41:41,232 --> 00:41:42,467
Where's my face?"
789
00:41:42,500 --> 00:41:45,136
DR. MANSOUR: Shawn's hands were very badly burned.
790
00:41:45,170 --> 00:41:46,471
At the beginning,
791
00:41:46,504 --> 00:41:48,574
we thought that maybe he's gonna lose some fingers.
792
00:41:51,042 --> 00:41:52,611
SHAWN: The reason of the pins
793
00:41:52,644 --> 00:41:56,181
was because my fingerswere bent like this
794
00:41:56,214 --> 00:41:58,016
and it was to the point
795
00:41:58,049 --> 00:42:00,085
where they needed tostraighten them out.
796
00:42:00,118 --> 00:42:01,720
I think I had to keep them in there for, about,
797
00:42:01,753 --> 00:42:04,255
maybe two weeks, and when they removed them,
798
00:42:04,289 --> 00:42:07,292
it was, um, hey, it was just like,
799
00:42:07,325 --> 00:42:08,326
they pull it out, you know,
800
00:42:08,359 --> 00:42:12,130
and it was one of the mostpainful experiences
801
00:42:12,163 --> 00:42:13,965
of being burned, you know.
802
00:42:16,868 --> 00:42:21,206
Shawn had a difficult timetaking his gloves off,
803
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:26,578
the gloves that are used totry to prevent more scarring.
804
00:42:26,612 --> 00:42:28,146
SHAWN: I almost at one point wanted to say,
805
00:42:28,179 --> 00:42:31,016
"Hey, if I keep these gloves on for the rest of my life,
806
00:42:31,049 --> 00:42:34,019
nobody's gonna, you know,notice that I'm burned."
807
00:42:38,089 --> 00:42:39,791
ROBIN: His mother, his whole life,
808
00:42:39,825 --> 00:42:44,830
told him that a woman judged a man by his hands.
809
00:42:44,863 --> 00:42:48,033
He was absolutelydevastated by that.
810
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:55,573
SHAWN: It took, you know, my--
811
00:42:55,607 --> 00:42:58,276
my occupational therapist, Catherine Ruiz, to tell me,
812
00:42:58,309 --> 00:43:01,179
you know, that the less you wear your garment,
813
00:43:01,212 --> 00:43:02,013
you know,the more comfortable
814
00:43:02,047 --> 00:43:03,348
you're going to feelin your skin.
815
00:43:09,187 --> 00:43:13,324
CHRISTINE: If you don't use those muscles and whatnot,
816
00:43:13,358 --> 00:43:16,061
once they heal into a certain position,
817
00:43:16,094 --> 00:43:17,829
you won't be able to use it.
818
00:43:17,863 --> 00:43:19,064
SHAWN: It was painful.
819
00:43:19,097 --> 00:43:21,900
It was days where I just didn't want to do it.
820
00:43:21,933 --> 00:43:23,234
The repetitiveness
821
00:43:23,268 --> 00:43:25,871
and that having to do it over and over and over again,
822
00:43:25,904 --> 00:43:29,240
you know, not really seeing a big change.
823
00:43:33,178 --> 00:43:34,713
ROY: To not be able to do
824
00:43:34,746 --> 00:43:36,414
the things you were used to doing
825
00:43:36,447 --> 00:43:39,017
has to be hard for any patient,
826
00:43:39,050 --> 00:43:41,319
and for Shawn, it had to be equally hard
827
00:43:41,352 --> 00:43:44,856
because he is 19 years old also,and here he is,
828
00:43:44,890 --> 00:43:47,759
the simple things in lifehe can't do right now.
829
00:43:47,793 --> 00:43:49,160
ROBIN: Things you take for granted:
830
00:43:49,194 --> 00:43:51,329
picking up a coin off the floor,
831
00:43:51,362 --> 00:43:54,299
holding your fork, holding a pencil.
832
00:43:56,101 --> 00:43:57,903
SHAWN: You just get deterred, and-- and--
833
00:43:57,936 --> 00:43:59,270
and, you know, just kind of want to give up.
834
00:44:05,911 --> 00:44:08,279
CHRISTINE: He always would stare out the window
835
00:44:08,313 --> 00:44:11,049
and I was asking him, "Shawn, what are you looking at?"
836
00:44:11,082 --> 00:44:12,417
( CHUCKLING )
837
00:44:12,450 --> 00:44:13,418
And he would always say to me,
838
00:44:13,451 --> 00:44:15,386
"I'm trying to find a wayto get out of here."
839
00:44:15,420 --> 00:44:17,455
( CHUCKLING )
840
00:44:17,488 --> 00:44:20,726
But he just...
841
00:44:20,759 --> 00:44:22,928
he-- he was just determinedto get out of the hospital.
842
00:44:33,471 --> 00:44:37,142
MIKE: LePore and Ryan began to realize
843
00:44:37,175 --> 00:44:40,178
that the investigation was focusing on them
844
00:44:40,211 --> 00:44:41,980
and they clammed up.
845
00:44:49,187 --> 00:44:50,956
We believed that the fraternity,
846
00:44:50,989 --> 00:44:54,192
as a body, knew more than they were telling us,
847
00:44:54,225 --> 00:44:56,762
and so it was an attempt to put pressure on them
848
00:44:56,795 --> 00:44:59,297
that law enforcement was going to press against them
849
00:44:59,330 --> 00:45:01,132
to break up the circled wagons.
850
00:45:01,166 --> 00:45:04,335
We knew a lot of these peoplewe wanted to speak to
851
00:45:04,369 --> 00:45:06,938
frequented that bar, so we figured,
852
00:45:06,972 --> 00:45:10,275
"Okay, they're going to do the underage drinking bust.
853
00:45:10,308 --> 00:45:13,745
Let's be ready to give out the subpoenas
854
00:45:13,779 --> 00:45:15,213
for the people who are dodging us."
855
00:45:21,552 --> 00:45:24,289
MIKE: We believed they knew from early on
856
00:45:24,322 --> 00:45:25,523
about the involvement
857
00:45:25,556 --> 00:45:28,293
of Shawn Ryan and Joseph LePore in this fire and that,
858
00:45:28,326 --> 00:45:32,764
early on, had decidedto circle their little wagons
859
00:45:32,798 --> 00:45:34,399
and protecttheir fraternity brothers
860
00:45:34,432 --> 00:45:37,168
against law enforcement.
861
00:45:37,202 --> 00:45:38,770
Nothing was ever produced.
862
00:45:38,804 --> 00:45:40,772
No one ever spoke.
863
00:45:40,806 --> 00:45:43,909
They hired extremely competent attorneys
864
00:45:43,942 --> 00:45:47,412
who gave us the roughest time they could.
865
00:45:47,445 --> 00:45:49,014
I was just surprisedthat they didn't want to help
866
00:45:49,047 --> 00:45:52,050
solve a crimethat killed three people
867
00:45:52,083 --> 00:45:54,185
and injured so many more.
868
00:45:54,219 --> 00:45:55,186
Don't you want to help?
869
00:45:55,220 --> 00:45:57,322
Don't you want to do something?
870
00:45:57,355 --> 00:46:00,158
I mean, those are your fellow students.
871
00:46:01,592 --> 00:46:03,328
MIKE: We hoped that one of them
872
00:46:03,361 --> 00:46:05,396
might grow a conscience
873
00:46:05,430 --> 00:46:08,499
and come forward and tell us what they knew.
874
00:46:08,533 --> 00:46:12,971
We believe they walk aroundwith secret knowledge even today
875
00:46:13,004 --> 00:46:15,206
and they'll have to carry that.
876
00:46:19,110 --> 00:46:22,848
JOHN: Some of the other investigators from Homicide
877
00:46:22,881 --> 00:46:25,450
had a, you know, an organized crime informant
878
00:46:25,483 --> 00:46:28,820
that said they had someinformation regarding the case.
879
00:46:33,091 --> 00:46:34,926
MIKE: In the moment of family crisis,
880
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:38,496
apparently one of the LePore family members
881
00:46:38,529 --> 00:46:44,569
turned to Daniel Ricciardi,a man of an unsavory background,
882
00:46:44,602 --> 00:46:48,606
for advice as to how to proceed with respect to
883
00:46:48,639 --> 00:46:52,177
the criminal investigationinto Joseph LePore.
884
00:46:52,210 --> 00:46:53,144
JOHN: The informant had said
885
00:46:53,178 --> 00:46:54,412
that the mom had approached him
886
00:46:54,445 --> 00:46:57,849
and said that the son had some type of involvement
887
00:46:57,883 --> 00:46:59,484
in the fireand that was the offer--
888
00:46:59,517 --> 00:47:01,319
information to give up.
889
00:47:01,352 --> 00:47:03,889
Occasionallyyou have to, sort of,
890
00:47:03,922 --> 00:47:06,958
make a deal with the devil,with the devil you know
891
00:47:06,992 --> 00:47:08,960
to get a hold of the devilyou don't know.
892
00:47:10,661 --> 00:47:13,064
MIKE: Once authorized by the court,
893
00:47:13,098 --> 00:47:16,334
the investigation looked for an opportunity
894
00:47:16,367 --> 00:47:20,371
to enter the home and place the listening devices
895
00:47:20,405 --> 00:47:23,274
without, of course, the occupants of the home
896
00:47:23,308 --> 00:47:26,177
being aware that the listening devices were placed.
897
00:47:28,379 --> 00:47:29,480
SHERIFF FONTOURA: It's not what he knew.
898
00:47:29,514 --> 00:47:32,217
I think this is what he was able to-- to--
899
00:47:32,250 --> 00:47:34,019
to provide for us and,
900
00:47:34,052 --> 00:47:35,620
whether it befirsthand knowledge
901
00:47:35,653 --> 00:47:38,123
or secondhand knowledge,but to be able to--
902
00:47:38,156 --> 00:47:41,927
to lead this investigation in--in-- in the right direction
903
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,995
and point tothe right individuals.
904
00:47:51,336 --> 00:47:53,939
It's a big celebrationwhen you leave the Burn ICU.
905
00:47:53,972 --> 00:47:57,675
All the nurses make a big deal when a patient's being released.
906
00:47:57,708 --> 00:47:58,843
It is a big deal.
907
00:47:58,876 --> 00:48:01,679
Everybody was in a celebratory mood and--
908
00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:03,181
and Shawn's parents came.
909
00:48:03,214 --> 00:48:04,282
SHAWN: It was exhilarating.
910
00:48:04,315 --> 00:48:06,217
I mean, it was like the--
911
00:48:06,251 --> 00:48:08,086
like the victory lap at a-- at a, you know,
912
00:48:08,119 --> 00:48:09,955
an Indianapolis 500or something, you know.
913
00:48:09,988 --> 00:48:12,157
CHRISTINE: When we was getting ready to leave,
914
00:48:12,190 --> 00:48:17,395
he said, "Ma," he said, "I got one more thing to do."
915
00:48:17,428 --> 00:48:19,630
He said, "I got to go and see Albefore I leave."
916
00:48:25,270 --> 00:48:26,604
ROBIN: He was still in a coma
917
00:48:26,637 --> 00:48:29,440
and he was still critically ill,
918
00:48:29,474 --> 00:48:31,209
and Shawn...
919
00:48:32,710 --> 00:48:33,911
broke down.
920
00:48:35,180 --> 00:48:37,182
ROY: You could almost see tears in his eyes, you know,
921
00:48:37,215 --> 00:48:39,617
while he was talking to him and--
922
00:48:39,650 --> 00:48:43,254
and just like a friend would do a friend,
923
00:48:43,288 --> 00:48:45,090
you know, say, "It's gonna be all right.
924
00:48:45,123 --> 00:48:47,058
I'm here for you," you know,
925
00:48:47,092 --> 00:48:48,593
"We're gonna get through this together."
926
00:48:48,626 --> 00:48:50,295
That's nice to see.
927
00:48:50,328 --> 00:48:51,662
CHRISTINE: He couldn't just leave Al
928
00:48:51,696 --> 00:48:52,763
without going in the room
929
00:48:52,797 --> 00:48:55,433
and talking to him,even though Al was in a coma,
930
00:48:55,466 --> 00:48:58,069
but I guess he just feltlike he had to do that
931
00:48:58,103 --> 00:49:00,471
and, you know, when he did,he came back out he--
932
00:49:00,505 --> 00:49:05,510
he just cried like a baby but it was a relief for him.
933
00:49:08,146 --> 00:49:09,680
SHAWN: And I just made a promise to myself
934
00:49:09,714 --> 00:49:12,150
that every day that I came for, you know,
935
00:49:12,183 --> 00:49:13,618
occupationaland physical therapy,
936
00:49:13,651 --> 00:49:16,087
no matter how tired I wasand ready to go home
937
00:49:16,121 --> 00:49:18,223
and lay down, you know,I had to go upstairs and--
938
00:49:18,256 --> 00:49:21,392
and-- and see Al,you know, every day.
939
00:49:24,029 --> 00:49:25,763
ROBIN: Alvaro was weeks into his recovery,
940
00:49:25,796 --> 00:49:27,465
still in a coma,
941
00:49:27,498 --> 00:49:29,767
but every day that he livedwas hopeful.
942
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:31,536
Matt and I got to the Burn Unit one morning
943
00:49:31,569 --> 00:49:35,540
and it was as if someone had died.
944
00:49:37,542 --> 00:49:40,211
CHRIS: This is a very severe turning point.
945
00:49:40,245 --> 00:49:42,213
Alvaro crashed
946
00:49:42,247 --> 00:49:44,015
and he was going into what we call ARDS,
947
00:49:44,049 --> 00:49:46,284
which is Adult RespiratoryDistress Syndrome.
948
00:49:46,317 --> 00:49:48,419
The lungs are essentiallyshutting down,
949
00:49:48,453 --> 00:49:50,588
they're telling you they don'twant to take air in anymore,
950
00:49:50,621 --> 00:49:54,092
and-- and he hada massive infection
951
00:49:54,125 --> 00:49:57,395
and temperature is goingup to about 105.
952
00:49:57,428 --> 00:49:58,396
It's-- it's not a good sign.
953
00:49:58,429 --> 00:50:01,366
It's-- you know, we losepatients that have ARDS.
954
00:50:01,399 --> 00:50:05,103
It's just an overwhelming assault on the lungs.
955
00:50:05,136 --> 00:50:06,337
( BEEPING )
956
00:50:06,371 --> 00:50:07,705
CHRIS: This was frightening.
957
00:50:07,738 --> 00:50:09,774
It was frightening because you had to tell the parents
958
00:50:09,807 --> 00:50:12,310
after a very longperiod of time,
959
00:50:12,343 --> 00:50:13,678
"He's dying right nowin front of us
960
00:50:13,711 --> 00:50:15,646
and we don't knowif we can save him."
961
00:50:17,415 --> 00:50:20,118
SHIRLEY: When she found out that
962
00:50:20,151 --> 00:50:23,421
it was a possibilitythat he could die,
963
00:50:23,454 --> 00:50:26,657
I remember her going homeand sobbing
964
00:50:26,691 --> 00:50:28,626
and she was like on her knees praying to God
965
00:50:28,659 --> 00:50:31,028
asking Him to save her son.
966
00:50:32,730 --> 00:50:34,765
And I remember that I still kept waiting
967
00:50:34,799 --> 00:50:41,106
for my brother to walk through, like, ( SNIFF ) physically,
968
00:50:41,139 --> 00:50:43,408
you know, the brotherthat I was used to seeing.
969
00:50:43,441 --> 00:50:47,545
We all sat there and--and it was a death watch.
970
00:50:47,578 --> 00:50:48,646
It was a death watch.
971
00:50:52,550 --> 00:50:56,221
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
972
00:51:03,694 --> 00:51:04,795
SHIRLEY: So all she can do
973
00:51:04,829 --> 00:51:07,565
is constantly be on top of the doctors.
974
00:51:07,598 --> 00:51:09,300
She couldn't evenentertain the thought
975
00:51:09,334 --> 00:51:11,369
that Alvarowas as sick as he was,
976
00:51:11,402 --> 00:51:14,372
so she would findlittle things to focus on.
977
00:51:14,405 --> 00:51:18,243
Her son was dying and she was asking questions like,
978
00:51:18,276 --> 00:51:21,879
"Why does he have a small brown patch on his eyelid?"
979
00:51:21,912 --> 00:51:24,815
I think one day they finally decided
980
00:51:24,849 --> 00:51:27,652
she's got to understand how bad this really is.
981
00:51:27,685 --> 00:51:32,123
She's got to face it because he may die anytime now.
982
00:51:32,157 --> 00:51:38,729
She screamed and screamedand cried and-- and-- and--
983
00:51:38,763 --> 00:51:43,868
and I've never seen anyoneever that distraught.
984
00:51:48,873 --> 00:51:50,141
SHIRLEY: We would always pray,
985
00:51:50,175 --> 00:51:52,910
but my mom would constantly pray and pray and pray
986
00:51:52,943 --> 00:51:54,779
and because she said she felt in her heart
987
00:51:54,812 --> 00:51:57,682
that God was going to pull through, you know,
988
00:51:57,715 --> 00:52:00,851
like hoping for the best.
989
00:52:00,885 --> 00:52:03,488
That's all that we could do at that time.
990
00:52:05,890 --> 00:52:08,826
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
991
00:52:16,734 --> 00:52:18,269
When she thoughtthat he was going to pass away,
992
00:52:18,303 --> 00:52:20,805
she told my grandmotherand my grandmother she took,
993
00:52:20,838 --> 00:52:23,641
you know, the next flight that she could and she came,
994
00:52:23,674 --> 00:52:25,710
but my grandmotherwas a very spiritual person,
995
00:52:25,743 --> 00:52:26,544
very spiritual.
996
00:52:26,577 --> 00:52:28,513
Her faith was, like,unbelievable.
997
00:52:28,546 --> 00:52:30,515
She was talking to us in the room and she said,
998
00:52:30,548 --> 00:52:32,583
"I don't want you guys to be upset with me
999
00:52:32,617 --> 00:52:34,819
but I made a promise to God,
1000
00:52:34,852 --> 00:52:37,255
and I asked Him to please take my life
1001
00:52:37,288 --> 00:52:38,689
and to spare your brother's."
1002
00:52:38,723 --> 00:52:42,660
It was weird becausethe sicker my grandmother got,
1003
00:52:42,693 --> 00:52:43,928
it seemed like the better
1004
00:52:43,961 --> 00:52:48,366
my brother's state started to get.
1005
00:52:48,399 --> 00:52:49,900
She ended upgoing to the doctor
1006
00:52:49,934 --> 00:52:53,704
and they told her that she had pancreatic cancer
1007
00:52:53,738 --> 00:52:56,241
and then my grandmother ended up passing away.
1008
00:53:04,749 --> 00:53:07,652
ROBIN: After three months in a coma,
1009
00:53:07,685 --> 00:53:10,255
Alvaro started waking up.
1010
00:53:10,288 --> 00:53:11,422
No one expected it.
1011
00:53:12,423 --> 00:53:15,460
( BEEPING )
1012
00:53:16,461 --> 00:53:17,495
CHRIS: She was so excited.
1013
00:53:17,528 --> 00:53:19,330
She was so happy that he was doing that
1014
00:53:19,364 --> 00:53:21,466
and her whole persona, I remember,
1015
00:53:21,499 --> 00:53:23,468
that day just changed.
1016
00:53:23,501 --> 00:53:24,902
It was like she was--
1017
00:53:24,935 --> 00:53:27,338
she realized that he was inside the body,
1018
00:53:27,372 --> 00:53:28,806
he was inside the bandages,
1019
00:53:28,839 --> 00:53:30,808
and I think that washer realization that day,
1020
00:53:30,841 --> 00:53:33,544
that her boywas still in that bed.
1021
00:53:33,578 --> 00:53:36,681
It wasn't just a bunch ofbandages laying there.
1022
00:53:36,714 --> 00:53:37,815
ALVARO LLANOS: I remember just feeling weak
1023
00:53:37,848 --> 00:53:40,418
and, like, you know, everything's blurry.
1024
00:53:40,451 --> 00:53:43,288
It was-- it was-- you don't realize what's going on.
1025
00:53:43,321 --> 00:53:44,221
You're still confused.
1026
00:53:44,255 --> 00:53:47,558
And it was-- it was hardbecause, you know,
1027
00:53:47,592 --> 00:53:49,860
you want to talk to peoplebut you couldn't.
1028
00:53:49,894 --> 00:53:53,264
One of my biggest fearsis probably being buried alive,
1029
00:53:53,298 --> 00:53:55,700
trying to communicate and you really can't.
1030
00:53:55,733 --> 00:53:57,768
You're trying to say something to somebody and you can't.
1031
00:53:57,802 --> 00:53:59,937
You got an itch and you can't scratch
1032
00:53:59,970 --> 00:54:00,971
because you can't move.
1033
00:54:03,441 --> 00:54:05,310
ALVARO: And you feel like the walls are closing in on you
1034
00:54:05,343 --> 00:54:09,647
and you see your family walking out, walking back in,
1035
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:11,416
and you want to know what's going on out there.
1036
00:54:11,449 --> 00:54:13,818
You want to be able to live your normal life
1037
00:54:13,851 --> 00:54:15,553
and just walk out and see
1038
00:54:15,586 --> 00:54:17,822
what's going onin the next room
1039
00:54:17,855 --> 00:54:20,925
or in the area thereand you get frustrated.
1040
00:54:20,958 --> 00:54:23,994
You, like,you feel trapped and--
1041
00:54:24,028 --> 00:54:26,030
and it's scarybecause you have--
1042
00:54:26,063 --> 00:54:27,965
you don't have the strengthor energy
1043
00:54:27,998 --> 00:54:33,338
or you're not healthy enoughto be living a normal life.
1044
00:54:38,876 --> 00:54:43,013
ROBIN: So, after a few days of Alvaro occasionally blinking
1045
00:54:43,047 --> 00:54:45,916
and people thinking he's coming back to life.
1046
00:54:45,950 --> 00:54:47,051
SHAWN: Al had woke up out of his coma
1047
00:54:47,084 --> 00:54:49,554
but I didn't know what they wanted to do
1048
00:54:49,587 --> 00:54:52,623
was almost kind ofplay a trick on me.
1049
00:54:52,657 --> 00:54:54,692
ROBIN: Shawn came up after physical therapy one day,
1050
00:54:54,725 --> 00:54:55,826
his outpatient therapy,
1051
00:54:55,860 --> 00:54:58,563
and he came up to the room and he walked in
1052
00:54:58,596 --> 00:55:01,031
and said hi to everyone and he looked over at Al
1053
00:55:01,065 --> 00:55:03,701
and he said, "How you doing, Al?"
1054
00:55:03,734 --> 00:55:08,539
and Alvaro said his first words,"Chillin',"
1055
00:55:08,573 --> 00:55:10,941
and Shawn said,"What did you say?"
1056
00:55:10,975 --> 00:55:13,844
and Alvaro said, "Chillin'."
1057
00:55:16,514 --> 00:55:18,616
SHAWN: I just kind of like broke down then and--
1058
00:55:18,649 --> 00:55:22,687
and it was just huge, you know, sigh of relief.
1059
00:55:22,720 --> 00:55:24,088
From that point on, I knew that, you know,
1060
00:55:24,121 --> 00:55:25,055
Al was going to get a lot better.
1061
00:55:27,658 --> 00:55:28,693
ALVARO: I could see in his face how--
1062
00:55:28,726 --> 00:55:29,960
you know, how happy he was,
1063
00:55:29,994 --> 00:55:33,664
you know, to see me upand, you know,
1064
00:55:33,698 --> 00:55:35,866
he was trying to talk to meabout sports
1065
00:55:35,900 --> 00:55:37,602
and everythingthat was going on.
1066
00:55:37,635 --> 00:55:38,869
SHAWN: You know, I think it was a victory
1067
00:55:38,903 --> 00:55:40,671
for not only for me and Al
1068
00:55:40,705 --> 00:55:42,907
but it was a victory for all the nurses
1069
00:55:42,940 --> 00:55:44,842
that had dedicated so many time, you know,
1070
00:55:44,875 --> 00:55:47,678
so much time to him and, you know, the doctors who,
1071
00:55:47,712 --> 00:55:49,514
you know, performed the surgeries and--
1072
00:55:49,547 --> 00:55:51,682
and for his family and-- and, you know,
1073
00:55:51,716 --> 00:55:53,918
for all our friends in the Seton Hall community.
1074
00:55:57,922 --> 00:56:03,127
After Alvaro startedreally regaining consciousness,
1075
00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:04,962
when he started talking a little bit,
1076
00:56:04,995 --> 00:56:08,533
he started asking his mother how he looked.
1077
00:56:09,734 --> 00:56:13,003
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
1078
00:56:27,552 --> 00:56:29,119
A cardinal rulein the Burn Unit
1079
00:56:29,153 --> 00:56:30,721
is you never lieto the patient.
1080
00:56:30,755 --> 00:56:32,657
It's so traumatic then.
1081
00:56:32,690 --> 00:56:35,860
You can't tell him he looks fine when he's disfigured.
1082
00:56:35,893 --> 00:56:37,728
ALVARO: She was scared to hurt my feelings,
1083
00:56:37,762 --> 00:56:39,464
to tell me the truth.
1084
00:56:39,497 --> 00:56:40,798
She didn't want to hurt me.
1085
00:56:43,834 --> 00:56:46,871
ROBIN: The therapist got the mirror,
1086
00:56:46,904 --> 00:56:48,072
walked in, and said,
1087
00:56:48,105 --> 00:56:49,674
"Alvaro, it's time for you to see yourself,"
1088
00:56:49,707 --> 00:56:51,609
and he was terrified!
1089
00:56:53,611 --> 00:56:55,646
And the whole time Shawn'ssaying, "It's okay, buddy.
1090
00:56:55,680 --> 00:56:57,014
It's okay.You know, look at me.
1091
00:56:57,047 --> 00:56:59,183
I'm-- I'm burned too."
1092
00:56:59,216 --> 00:57:01,786
And Alvaro, finally, he looked in
1093
00:57:01,819 --> 00:57:04,154
and he had this stunned, numb look on his face
1094
00:57:04,188 --> 00:57:06,991
and he just stared.
1095
00:57:07,024 --> 00:57:09,760
ALVARO: It was very depressing seeing the bandages
1096
00:57:09,794 --> 00:57:13,464
and seeing all the bruises and, you know,
1097
00:57:13,498 --> 00:57:15,900
these weird marks on my face.
1098
00:57:15,933 --> 00:57:18,703
I was scared that, you know,would this ever improve,
1099
00:57:18,736 --> 00:57:20,070
will I go back to normal,
1100
00:57:20,104 --> 00:57:23,007
or will I look like thisfor the rest of my life?
1101
00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:25,710
It was emotionalas, you know,
1102
00:57:25,743 --> 00:57:27,144
and a tear dropped downfrom his eyes.
1103
00:57:29,013 --> 00:57:30,515
It was tough. It was tough for him,
1104
00:57:30,548 --> 00:57:31,516
it was tough for his parents,
1105
00:57:31,549 --> 00:57:33,551
it was tough for-- for everybody.
1106
00:57:33,584 --> 00:57:35,085
You know, I took off my maskat that point in time.
1107
00:57:35,119 --> 00:57:36,787
I said, "Al, look," you know,
1108
00:57:36,821 --> 00:57:38,623
"the same thing'shappened to me," you know,
1109
00:57:38,656 --> 00:57:42,593
and I think that wasa comforting, you know,
1110
00:57:42,627 --> 00:57:44,595
sight for him to see.
1111
00:57:44,629 --> 00:57:47,965
ALVARO: He showed me his-- his scars,
1112
00:57:47,998 --> 00:57:51,001
showed me how his scars healed
1113
00:57:51,035 --> 00:57:52,737
and that he was doing much better.
1114
00:57:52,770 --> 00:57:54,972
He was going tomake him better.
1115
00:57:55,005 --> 00:57:56,907
He was going to help him.
1116
00:57:56,941 --> 00:57:58,075
He loved Alvaro.
1117
00:57:58,108 --> 00:58:00,210
I could see the love growing between them.
1118
00:58:00,244 --> 00:58:03,881
It's incredible because we--we-- we share so much now
1119
00:58:03,914 --> 00:58:06,784
and we'll always be bondedfor life, you know.
1120
00:58:06,817 --> 00:58:09,153
We're always going to be survivors
1121
00:58:09,186 --> 00:58:11,188
and it's somethingI never, you know,
1122
00:58:11,221 --> 00:58:12,623
I never want to give up.
1123
00:58:17,327 --> 00:58:21,799
ROBIN: There wasn't one significant event
1124
00:58:21,832 --> 00:58:24,535
in Alvaro's recovery that Shawn wasn't there for.
1125
00:58:24,569 --> 00:58:25,670
Not one.
1126
00:58:25,703 --> 00:58:27,572
He insisted on being there for everything,
1127
00:58:27,605 --> 00:58:29,874
he made surehe was there for everything,
1128
00:58:29,907 --> 00:58:32,509
and Alvaro wanted him therefor everything.
1129
00:58:38,015 --> 00:58:39,684
JOHN: We knew we were on the right track.
1130
00:58:39,717 --> 00:58:42,587
All signs were pointing to these two guys,
1131
00:58:42,620 --> 00:58:44,254
that they were the ones who did it.
1132
00:58:44,288 --> 00:58:46,991
All those little pieces ofthe puzzle were put together,
1133
00:58:47,024 --> 00:58:48,559
presented to the grand jury.
1134
00:58:48,593 --> 00:58:51,862
Grand jury indicted basedon the evidence we presented
1135
00:58:51,896 --> 00:58:55,600
and then we, in turn,got arrest warrants.
1136
00:58:55,633 --> 00:58:58,235
I had personally been following LePore
1137
00:58:58,268 --> 00:59:00,805
from about four o'clock in the morning.
1138
00:59:00,838 --> 00:59:02,072
MIKE: On this particular day,
1139
00:59:02,106 --> 00:59:04,074
because of the report of the movements of LePore
1140
00:59:04,108 --> 00:59:05,409
going from bank to bank to bank,
1141
00:59:05,442 --> 00:59:08,746
the suspicion was that he was gathering money to flee.
1142
00:59:08,779 --> 00:59:10,915
JOHN: He panicked and went down a dead end.
1143
00:59:10,948 --> 00:59:15,085
MIKE: He tried to flee and in fact rammed a police car.
1144
00:59:15,119 --> 00:59:17,755
It was a relieffor a little bit,
1145
00:59:17,788 --> 00:59:19,857
but we knewthe difficult mount was coming
1146
00:59:19,890 --> 00:59:23,828
and that was to convict him and get him to trial.
1147
00:59:23,861 --> 00:59:26,063
For that brief second,hey, we-- we got him.
1148
00:59:30,901 --> 00:59:32,770
ROBIN: As if Al hadn't been through enough pain,
1149
00:59:32,803 --> 00:59:36,273
the burn recovery is so painful.
1150
00:59:36,306 --> 00:59:38,308
The stretching of his skin
1151
00:59:38,342 --> 00:59:41,345
because he wasso horribly scarred
1152
00:59:41,378 --> 00:59:42,747
this whole partof his body.
1153
00:59:42,780 --> 00:59:44,014
Roy had to stretch him
1154
00:59:44,048 --> 00:59:47,885
or he could've literally lost the use of his arms.
1155
00:59:47,918 --> 00:59:50,821
The scarred tissue,if you don't have any movement,
1156
00:59:50,855 --> 00:59:52,957
and once the scar matures,it gets tightened,
1157
00:59:52,990 --> 00:59:54,625
and you lose a range-- range of motion.
1158
00:59:55,826 --> 00:59:57,027
ROY: Sometimes I'd spend an hour in his room
1159
00:59:57,061 --> 00:59:58,228
stretching him out
1160
00:59:58,262 --> 01:00:01,165
and I could see him grimacing and kind of like
1161
01:00:01,198 --> 01:00:04,201
biting his teeth a little bit, but he took it.
1162
01:00:05,302 --> 01:00:07,337
ALVARO: He used to push me hard to, you know,
1163
01:00:07,371 --> 01:00:10,007
to make sure I don't lose that range,
1164
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:14,278
so my body doesn't get tightand I can't live a normal life.
1165
01:00:14,311 --> 01:00:18,683
One of his concernswas hugging his girlfriend,
1166
01:00:18,716 --> 01:00:21,151
his family.
1167
01:00:21,185 --> 01:00:23,888
The only person he's huggin' at that time is me.
1168
01:00:25,255 --> 01:00:27,758
He also started to understand that
1169
01:00:27,792 --> 01:00:30,427
"this is not going to be as easy as I thought it was."
1170
01:00:30,460 --> 01:00:35,032
He's saying, "This hurts a lot, and I've got medication.
1171
01:00:35,065 --> 01:00:37,802
This still hurts," and I think he's realizing
1172
01:00:37,835 --> 01:00:39,804
this is not going to bea short haul,
1173
01:00:39,837 --> 01:00:41,305
this is going to bea long road.
1174
01:01:00,925 --> 01:01:03,761
SHAWN: Angie was-- was a saint for Al
1175
01:01:03,794 --> 01:01:07,064
and they made a beautiful couple.
1176
01:01:07,097 --> 01:01:08,766
You know, it was tough but she was there,
1177
01:01:08,799 --> 01:01:11,001
she definitely showed her commitment.
1178
01:01:11,035 --> 01:01:13,403
If, you know, a tear fell from his eye,
1179
01:01:13,437 --> 01:01:15,339
she was there to wipe it.
1180
01:01:15,372 --> 01:01:18,175
I think it was a partof his recovery as well.
1181
01:01:18,208 --> 01:01:19,376
We all wereworried about Angie
1182
01:01:19,409 --> 01:01:21,779
because this wasa young girl
1183
01:01:21,812 --> 01:01:25,082
who was dating this boyand she had to--
1184
01:01:25,115 --> 01:01:26,984
to realize the extent of his injuries
1185
01:01:27,017 --> 01:01:29,086
and that he had a long road ahead of him.
1186
01:01:30,220 --> 01:01:31,421
After awhileI started to notice that,
1187
01:01:31,455 --> 01:01:33,357
hey, you know,she wasn't around as much.
1188
01:01:33,390 --> 01:01:35,726
I would ask,you know, nurses,
1189
01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:37,795
you know, you know,"Did Angie come?"
1190
01:01:38,796 --> 01:01:40,931
SHIRLEY: Then I started to worry because I was, like,
1191
01:01:40,965 --> 01:01:43,901
he's gonna need her support and he loves her so much.
1192
01:01:43,934 --> 01:01:46,837
For her not to be there, it would be heartbreaking.
1193
01:01:48,806 --> 01:01:50,775
ROBIN: One day she finally just said,
1194
01:01:50,808 --> 01:01:52,342
"I'm a-- I'm a kid.
1195
01:01:52,376 --> 01:01:54,311
I'm-- I'm trying to live a life and I'm--
1196
01:01:54,344 --> 01:01:57,381
I'm here in this horrible placewatching my boyfriend die.
1197
01:01:57,414 --> 01:01:58,749
I can't do it anymore."
1198
01:01:58,783 --> 01:02:02,052
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
1199
01:02:10,861 --> 01:02:13,463
ROBIN: Spouses frequently left their burned spouses.
1200
01:02:13,497 --> 01:02:15,399
They just can't handle burns
1201
01:02:15,432 --> 01:02:18,235
and so they said to expect an 18-year-old girl
1202
01:02:18,268 --> 01:02:21,305
to stay with her boyfriendwho was so horribly burned,
1203
01:02:21,338 --> 01:02:22,940
it wasn't going to happen.
1204
01:02:22,973 --> 01:02:24,174
SHAWN: The world caught up to her.
1205
01:02:24,208 --> 01:02:25,375
She said, "Hey, you know, hey,
1206
01:02:25,409 --> 01:02:28,045
I need to get back into school and, you know,
1207
01:02:28,078 --> 01:02:30,915
I have my own personal life and-- and, you know,
1208
01:02:30,948 --> 01:02:31,916
I want to be here for Al,"
1209
01:02:31,949 --> 01:02:34,018
but for herself she had to move on
1210
01:02:34,051 --> 01:02:36,987
and she had to just-- just get on with her own life.
1211
01:02:43,828 --> 01:02:47,131
ALL: * Happy birthday to you
1212
01:02:47,164 --> 01:02:51,435
* Happy birthday dear Al
1213
01:02:51,468 --> 01:02:54,438
* Happy birthday to you
1214
01:02:54,471 --> 01:02:57,007
ROBIN: It was Alvaro's 19th birthday in May,
1215
01:02:57,041 --> 01:02:58,342
while he was in the hospital.
1216
01:02:58,375 --> 01:03:00,210
SHIRLEY: My whole entire family,
1217
01:03:00,244 --> 01:03:02,546
all of his friends came and,
1218
01:03:02,579 --> 01:03:05,249
you know, we had a cake for him with a candle.
1219
01:03:05,282 --> 01:03:06,951
It was another stepin our victory.
1220
01:03:06,984 --> 01:03:08,318
You know, it was--
1221
01:03:08,352 --> 01:03:10,454
it was a sense ofan accomplishment, you know,
1222
01:03:10,487 --> 01:03:13,023
and people had, you know,saw where Al came from
1223
01:03:13,057 --> 01:03:15,225
and where he was now.
1224
01:03:16,226 --> 01:03:19,296
SHANY: I guess just knowing that we were actually able
1225
01:03:19,329 --> 01:03:23,233
to celebrate his birthday,like, it actually happened.
1226
01:03:23,267 --> 01:03:24,468
He-- he woke up
1227
01:03:24,501 --> 01:03:26,336
and we're actuallycelebrating his birthday.
1228
01:03:26,370 --> 01:03:28,305
It was--it was just very emotional.
1229
01:03:28,338 --> 01:03:30,440
SHIRLEY: Very emotional because he pulled through
1230
01:03:30,474 --> 01:03:31,909
and very emotional for him
1231
01:03:31,942 --> 01:03:34,912
because it was a pointin his life
1232
01:03:34,945 --> 01:03:37,581
where it was almost likehe was starting over again.
1233
01:03:37,614 --> 01:03:40,951
( JUMBLED CHATTER )
1234
01:03:41,952 --> 01:03:43,921
SHAWN: Everybody was out in the waiting room so,
1235
01:03:43,954 --> 01:03:46,556
you know, I went to his room and I went to go, you know,
1236
01:03:46,590 --> 01:03:49,059
get him to bring him outto everybody,
1237
01:03:49,093 --> 01:03:52,362
and when I was in the room,he was in there writing.
1238
01:03:55,900 --> 01:03:57,234
ROBIN: And I can still see his--
1239
01:03:57,267 --> 01:04:02,072
his handwriting was shaking but he wrote
1240
01:04:02,106 --> 01:04:06,143
"Shawn, you are a good friend."
1241
01:04:09,980 --> 01:04:13,217
SHAWN: It was one of the craziest feelings I ever felt.
1242
01:04:13,250 --> 01:04:17,321
I mean, he--it just was so heartfelt and--
1243
01:04:17,354 --> 01:04:20,124
and, you know,I knew it was sincere
1244
01:04:20,157 --> 01:04:22,192
and it-- it-- it just showed that the bond
1245
01:04:22,226 --> 01:04:25,095
that me and Al had was-- was-- was a true bond.
1246
01:04:25,129 --> 01:04:26,530
ALVARO: Having him there, you know,
1247
01:04:26,563 --> 01:04:28,598
made it easier for me in the process.
1248
01:04:28,632 --> 01:04:31,235
He-- he gave me a lot of strength
1249
01:04:31,268 --> 01:04:33,337
and he'd been through all the situations I'd been through
1250
01:04:33,370 --> 01:04:35,940
and he was ahead of me recovery-wise
1251
01:04:35,973 --> 01:04:36,873
and just watching him
1252
01:04:36,907 --> 01:04:38,175
that he was getting backto normal, strong,
1253
01:04:38,208 --> 01:04:40,945
helped me get strongerand motivated
1254
01:04:40,978 --> 01:04:43,180
that I wanted to get backto a normal life like he is.
1255
01:04:43,213 --> 01:04:44,214
He's back to his.
1256
01:04:46,716 --> 01:04:50,220
ROY: You saw the camaraderie between the two of them,
1257
01:04:50,254 --> 01:04:52,022
and Alvaro wrote that.
1258
01:04:52,056 --> 01:04:55,459
It just reassured that that relationship was good.
1259
01:04:55,492 --> 01:04:57,094
Sometimes friends are friends
1260
01:04:57,127 --> 01:05:00,397
that don't talk to everybody every day,
1261
01:05:00,430 --> 01:05:02,532
but sometimes it's the things you say,
1262
01:05:02,566 --> 01:05:04,268
it's the things you do,
1263
01:05:04,301 --> 01:05:07,171
and the factthat he wrote that for us...
1264
01:05:07,204 --> 01:05:09,406
I mean, I watched some ofthe therapists around me,
1265
01:05:09,439 --> 01:05:10,674
you know, like,tears in their eyes
1266
01:05:10,707 --> 01:05:15,079
and, you know, it was like,"I don't believe he wrote that.
1267
01:05:15,112 --> 01:05:16,480
Why did he have to do that?
1268
01:05:16,513 --> 01:05:18,983
He knew we were going toget caught up in the moment.
1269
01:05:19,016 --> 01:05:20,717
He should've waited'til we were out of the room."
1270
01:05:20,750 --> 01:05:23,687
( BACKGROUND CHATTER )
1271
01:05:24,754 --> 01:05:27,224
SHIRLEY: And it was probably the best day he had
1272
01:05:27,257 --> 01:05:29,293
in the Burn Unit up to that point,
1273
01:05:29,326 --> 01:05:34,364
except that Angie was there and it was at, you know,
1274
01:05:34,398 --> 01:05:36,133
the end of their relationship.
1275
01:05:37,134 --> 01:05:40,170
( SPEAKING SPANISH )
1276
01:05:47,244 --> 01:05:48,612
There wereso many people around,
1277
01:05:48,645 --> 01:05:50,614
but the focuswas on him and Angie
1278
01:05:50,647 --> 01:05:53,183
and she was keptto the back.
1279
01:05:53,217 --> 01:05:57,687
Only Shawn joined her to try to make her feel better.
1280
01:05:57,721 --> 01:06:01,391
His family isolated her and she was very, very upset
1281
01:06:01,425 --> 01:06:02,559
and she finally decided--
1282
01:06:02,592 --> 01:06:06,063
she started crying and she waded through the crowd
1283
01:06:06,096 --> 01:06:09,633
and leaned over to Alvaro and-- and she said,
1284
01:06:09,666 --> 01:06:11,768
"You can see what your family's doing.
1285
01:06:11,801 --> 01:06:12,802
Can't you?"
1286
01:06:12,836 --> 01:06:15,205
And he said, "I know you're leaving,"
1287
01:06:15,239 --> 01:06:17,241
and she said, "I have to go."
1288
01:06:19,143 --> 01:06:22,579
She literally fled to the elevator and-- and--
1289
01:06:22,612 --> 01:06:24,381
and he started crying because, he said,
1290
01:06:24,414 --> 01:06:28,285
that was really what he wantedmore than anything,
1291
01:06:28,318 --> 01:06:31,688
was to spend time with herand she was gone.
1292
01:06:31,721 --> 01:06:35,159
SHIRLEY: When she left, you could see the pain in his face
1293
01:06:35,192 --> 01:06:37,461
and his tears started to come down
1294
01:06:37,494 --> 01:06:40,564
and then I got very emotional,my sister got very emotional,
1295
01:06:40,597 --> 01:06:43,267
because we don't want tosee him like that.
1296
01:06:43,300 --> 01:06:44,434
He's already goingthrough enough.
1297
01:06:44,468 --> 01:06:47,003
We didn't want himto have added pain.
1298
01:06:51,108 --> 01:06:52,376
ALVARO: I wanted her relationship as a friend.
1299
01:06:52,409 --> 01:06:53,777
That's what I wanted.
1300
01:06:53,810 --> 01:06:57,081
I didn't care about, you know, being boyfriend-girlfriend
1301
01:06:57,114 --> 01:06:58,415
because at that moment,
1302
01:06:58,448 --> 01:07:01,518
I couldn't be a boyfriend to anybody because I had--
1303
01:07:01,551 --> 01:07:02,686
I had my own lifeto worry about
1304
01:07:02,719 --> 01:07:07,157
and get my life back to living,back to a normal life.
1305
01:07:09,693 --> 01:07:13,363
ROBIN: He could see her moving away and moving away
1306
01:07:13,397 --> 01:07:16,366
and he told her, "You know,
1307
01:07:16,400 --> 01:07:18,802
I really don't want to have you around
1308
01:07:18,835 --> 01:07:21,705
because it's distracting to me in my recovery,
1309
01:07:21,738 --> 01:07:23,240
so you don'tneed to come anymore,"
1310
01:07:23,273 --> 01:07:26,110
and the only reasonhe did that was to let her go,
1311
01:07:26,143 --> 01:07:29,179
to be kind to her,and he was heartbroken over it,
1312
01:07:29,213 --> 01:07:31,548
but that's justthe kind of a boy he is.
1313
01:07:38,788 --> 01:07:41,325
SHIRLEY: It was amazing when I saw that my brother
1314
01:07:41,358 --> 01:07:44,361
left the hospital and he came home
1315
01:07:44,394 --> 01:07:46,630
and my whole family greeted him at home
1316
01:07:46,663 --> 01:07:49,533
and my mom had cooked, like, his favorite meal.
1317
01:07:49,566 --> 01:07:52,269
They had set up the biggest room for him
1318
01:07:52,302 --> 01:07:55,172
and bought him, like, a new bedroom set
1319
01:07:55,205 --> 01:07:56,473
and he had all this love
1320
01:07:56,506 --> 01:07:59,143
and made it just so much more comfortable for him,
1321
01:07:59,176 --> 01:08:00,009
but it was just so exciting
1322
01:08:00,043 --> 01:08:02,612
just to have him thereafter so long.
1323
01:08:07,284 --> 01:08:08,785
ALVARO: It was hard when I first came home,
1324
01:08:08,818 --> 01:08:11,521
trying to, you know, get back to a normal life.
1325
01:08:11,555 --> 01:08:12,822
Everything was so hard.
1326
01:08:12,856 --> 01:08:15,125
You know, you feel like you're in a different body,
1327
01:08:15,159 --> 01:08:17,361
you're trying to do things that you used to do
1328
01:08:17,394 --> 01:08:18,695
and was so easy, so normal.
1329
01:08:18,728 --> 01:08:24,268
It's frustrating when you have your family helping you.
1330
01:08:24,301 --> 01:08:25,135
You don't want themto help you
1331
01:08:25,169 --> 01:08:26,503
and then you do want themto help you
1332
01:08:26,536 --> 01:08:27,737
and it gets frustrating.
1333
01:08:28,872 --> 01:08:29,906
SHANY: Almost every night,
1334
01:08:29,939 --> 01:08:33,477
I can hear my brother crying to my mom
1335
01:08:33,510 --> 01:08:37,481
saying that he's ugly now,that why did this happen to him,
1336
01:08:37,514 --> 01:08:39,616
saying that he didn'twant to live this way.
1337
01:08:47,691 --> 01:08:49,626
I would remember going into the room also
1338
01:08:49,659 --> 01:08:52,896
trying to console him, but I just felt like
1339
01:08:52,929 --> 01:08:54,764
there wasn't anythingI could say or do
1340
01:08:54,798 --> 01:08:56,666
to make him feel better.
1341
01:08:59,703 --> 01:09:04,474
ROBIN: He was by no means comfortable in his new skin,
1342
01:09:04,508 --> 01:09:06,643
his burned skin, for a very long time.
1343
01:09:06,676 --> 01:09:11,381
In fact, for a very long time,he hid in--
1344
01:09:11,415 --> 01:09:13,550
in his bedroom in Patterson,
1345
01:09:13,583 --> 01:09:14,584
and you would walk in the room
1346
01:09:14,618 --> 01:09:15,752
and it would be dark except for the--
1347
01:09:15,785 --> 01:09:19,155
the TV light because he was afraid to go out.
1348
01:09:29,299 --> 01:09:32,736
ROY: When you don't look like you used to look,
1349
01:09:32,769 --> 01:09:35,405
the questionis gonna always be is
1350
01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:37,173
"how will people accept me?"
1351
01:09:43,413 --> 01:09:45,615
ROBIN: I noticed with Alvaro when he would go out
1352
01:09:45,649 --> 01:09:46,983
and people would bestaring at him,
1353
01:09:47,016 --> 01:09:48,652
he'd pretend he didn't see
1354
01:09:48,685 --> 01:09:51,255
and would later say he knowseveryone stares at him.
1355
01:09:51,288 --> 01:09:53,757
Sometimes he would cry and say, "I'm so ugly."
1356
01:09:56,760 --> 01:09:58,395
I felt like everybodywas judging me
1357
01:09:58,428 --> 01:09:59,463
for the way I look.
1358
01:10:00,530 --> 01:10:02,399
ROY: Sometimes it's not what people say,
1359
01:10:02,432 --> 01:10:05,602
it's the look on your face that says a lot
1360
01:10:05,635 --> 01:10:07,871
and for these guys, they knew,
1361
01:10:07,904 --> 01:10:09,005
they'd already been in the mirror,
1362
01:10:09,038 --> 01:10:11,608
they'd already seen what they look like.
1363
01:10:11,641 --> 01:10:14,578
They can kind of read sometimeswhat other people are thinking
1364
01:10:14,611 --> 01:10:16,313
about how they must look.
1365
01:10:21,518 --> 01:10:23,953
SHIRLEY: Shawn actually gave him strength
1366
01:10:23,987 --> 01:10:26,523
and gave him hope,
1367
01:10:26,556 --> 01:10:28,892
and when my brother was down,he was there for him,
1368
01:10:28,925 --> 01:10:30,794
and he would tell himnot to give up.
1369
01:10:30,827 --> 01:10:33,029
Just having himby my side was, you know,
1370
01:10:33,062 --> 01:10:35,299
it was good for me,and even though sometimes,
1371
01:10:35,332 --> 01:10:36,533
we don't see each otherall the time,
1372
01:10:36,566 --> 01:10:37,967
but when we dosee each other,
1373
01:10:38,001 --> 01:10:39,969
we know we'll have this connection and--
1374
01:10:40,003 --> 01:10:43,540
and we just, you know, like a magnet,
1375
01:10:43,573 --> 01:10:45,909
we just attract each other and it, you know,
1376
01:10:45,942 --> 01:10:48,712
feels good to have him as part of my family.
1377
01:10:50,880 --> 01:10:52,449
SHIRLEY: What I admire the most about my brother
1378
01:10:52,482 --> 01:10:54,784
was that he didn't give up
1379
01:10:54,818 --> 01:10:59,022
and that he made the best out of the situation
1380
01:10:59,055 --> 01:11:00,357
and even though it frustrated him,
1381
01:11:00,390 --> 01:11:02,859
even though he had his moments where he would, like,
1382
01:11:02,892 --> 01:11:04,928
you know, cry and get depressed,
1383
01:11:04,961 --> 01:11:07,597
which, it would've happenedto any regular person--
1384
01:11:07,631 --> 01:11:08,632
but the fact that he--
1385
01:11:08,665 --> 01:11:12,502
he made himself strong enoughto overcome that.
1386
01:11:15,572 --> 01:11:18,041
But then as time went on, and with all the support--
1387
01:11:18,074 --> 01:11:21,077
the family support, support from Shawn,
1388
01:11:21,110 --> 01:11:22,078
from everyone,
1389
01:11:22,111 --> 01:11:24,080
just telling him and talking to him
1390
01:11:24,113 --> 01:11:26,916
and him realizing himself that there's more to life
1391
01:11:26,950 --> 01:11:30,687
than just how you look, he overcame that obstacle
1392
01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:32,622
and he started going out
1393
01:11:32,656 --> 01:11:34,891
and started feelingmore and more comfortable
1394
01:11:34,924 --> 01:11:36,993
and then that's howhe met his wife.
1395
01:11:37,994 --> 01:11:39,863
We laugh about itbecause we think about how
1396
01:11:39,896 --> 01:11:41,698
I didn't want togo out that night
1397
01:11:41,731 --> 01:11:43,367
and he also didn'twant to go out
1398
01:11:43,400 --> 01:11:45,969
and we were both kind offorced by our own friends.
1399
01:11:46,002 --> 01:11:50,374
And when Paula saw Alvaroacross the room,
1400
01:11:50,407 --> 01:11:54,544
she looked right past his scars and into his heart.
1401
01:11:54,578 --> 01:11:56,980
Ever since the first nightthat we did meet,
1402
01:11:57,013 --> 01:11:58,181
we were inseparable,
1403
01:11:58,214 --> 01:12:02,419
either through the phone or hanging out together.
1404
01:12:02,452 --> 01:12:05,389
And when he met her, like,you saw a whole different,
1405
01:12:05,422 --> 01:12:08,692
like, way about him,you know.
1406
01:12:08,725 --> 01:12:10,427
Like, he seemed more confident.
1407
01:12:10,460 --> 01:12:12,596
He wasn't so afraid.
1408
01:12:17,534 --> 01:12:20,036
JOHN: The indictments were felony murder,
1409
01:12:20,069 --> 01:12:22,639
aggravated arson, conspiracy,
1410
01:12:22,672 --> 01:12:24,441
witness tampering.
1411
01:12:24,474 --> 01:12:27,777
Their bail was setat $2 million cash,
1412
01:12:27,811 --> 01:12:28,978
no ten percent.
1413
01:12:29,012 --> 01:12:31,881
They would treatthe litigation,
1414
01:12:31,915 --> 01:12:33,617
when they would comeinto the courtroom,
1415
01:12:33,650 --> 01:12:35,452
like they wereat a sports bar--
1416
01:12:35,485 --> 01:12:39,689
laughing, joking, mocking at court officers--
1417
01:12:39,723 --> 01:12:41,691
which I interpreted to just be denial
1418
01:12:41,725 --> 01:12:43,527
that this is real at all.
1419
01:12:43,560 --> 01:12:45,595
JOHN: LePore, he was very arrogant,
1420
01:12:45,629 --> 01:12:46,663
and he was basically like,
1421
01:12:46,696 --> 01:12:48,898
"I'll be home before you get home."
1422
01:12:48,932 --> 01:12:51,768
And it wasn't untilthey saw the jury
1423
01:12:51,801 --> 01:12:54,704
that their attitudes changedand they became grave,
1424
01:12:54,738 --> 01:12:59,175
and shortly after that, um,they approached us with a plea
1425
01:12:59,208 --> 01:13:00,977
that includedState prison time.
1426
01:13:01,010 --> 01:13:04,113
JOE KAROL: For years, I dreamed of that moment
1427
01:13:04,147 --> 01:13:06,450
when I would be able to face them
1428
01:13:06,483 --> 01:13:08,852
and tell them in court what I thought of them,
1429
01:13:08,885 --> 01:13:11,821
and especially for the cowardice,
1430
01:13:11,855 --> 01:13:14,791
the denials, the lies.
1431
01:13:14,824 --> 01:13:17,627
I wanted to spill my gutsand tell them everything
1432
01:13:17,661 --> 01:13:20,129
that I thought of themface-to-face,
1433
01:13:20,163 --> 01:13:23,700
eye-to-eye, man-to-man,and I wasn't allowed to do that.
1434
01:13:23,733 --> 01:13:26,135
I was allowed to make a statement,
1435
01:13:26,169 --> 01:13:29,439
but the statement had to be made facing the judge.
1436
01:13:30,474 --> 01:13:34,143
CANDY: "I will never again hear him listen to his music.
1437
01:13:34,177 --> 01:13:37,714
"I will never again be able to hold him.
1438
01:13:37,747 --> 01:13:39,883
"I will never again be able to kiss him
1439
01:13:39,916 --> 01:13:41,518
and tell him goodnight."
1440
01:13:41,551 --> 01:13:42,986
But, Mr. LePore and Mr. Ryan,
1441
01:13:43,019 --> 01:13:44,954
eventually your judgment day will come
1442
01:13:44,988 --> 01:13:46,856
from the highest court,
1443
01:13:46,890 --> 01:13:47,924
and you will both see a jury
1444
01:13:47,957 --> 01:13:50,494
consisting of Frankie, Aaron, and John,
1445
01:13:50,527 --> 01:13:52,729
and on that day, justice will be served.
1446
01:13:54,263 --> 01:13:55,231
I would like to say
1447
01:13:55,264 --> 01:13:56,566
that these murderers should know
1448
01:13:56,600 --> 01:13:58,902
that the Ten Commandments say "Thou shalt not kill."
1449
01:13:58,935 --> 01:14:00,269
I hope that they think about that
1450
01:14:00,303 --> 01:14:02,672
every day and every night for the rest of their lives
1451
01:14:02,706 --> 01:14:04,040
and know that somewhere I will be out there
1452
01:14:04,073 --> 01:14:06,710
praying to God that they are eternally banished to hell
1453
01:14:06,743 --> 01:14:08,812
and you'll hear these words, "God damn them both,
1454
01:14:08,845 --> 01:14:10,847
God damn their families, God damn their prodigy,
1455
01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:13,049
and anyone who assisted them to commit these horrific acts."
1456
01:14:13,082 --> 01:14:14,083
JUDGE: Sir! Sir.
1457
01:14:15,218 --> 01:14:17,821
It was just so emotional,
1458
01:14:17,854 --> 01:14:21,625
and then, like,they were saying, like,
1459
01:14:21,658 --> 01:14:25,562
"How can you sit thereand smile and smirk
1460
01:14:25,595 --> 01:14:27,897
after you killed my brother?"
1461
01:14:27,931 --> 01:14:28,998
This is what they were telling--
1462
01:14:29,032 --> 01:14:31,200
this is what the guy was telling them.
1463
01:14:31,234 --> 01:14:33,570
I mean, the judge even had totell him to calm down
1464
01:14:33,603 --> 01:14:35,905
because he, like,ripped the paper up
1465
01:14:35,939 --> 01:14:38,675
and, like, threw it 'causehe was so upset and so hurt.
1466
01:14:38,708 --> 01:14:40,744
There was so much pain there.
1467
01:14:42,111 --> 01:14:43,847
Candy and I were seated
1468
01:14:43,880 --> 01:14:46,816
right next toAlvaro and his wife
1469
01:14:46,850 --> 01:14:51,020
and I could feel the paincoming out of them.
1470
01:14:51,054 --> 01:14:54,824
Al could not even get up to make his own statement.
1471
01:14:54,858 --> 01:14:56,993
His wife read it for him,
1472
01:14:57,026 --> 01:15:01,030
and our hearts were justbleeding for him.
1473
01:15:02,031 --> 01:15:03,099
PAULA LLANOS: My name is Paula Llanos.
1474
01:15:03,132 --> 01:15:06,536
I'm reading this. My husband wrote it.
1475
01:15:13,276 --> 01:15:14,510
( SNIFFING )
1476
01:15:20,149 --> 01:15:21,918
( SOBBING )
1477
01:15:24,153 --> 01:15:26,255
At one point,
1478
01:15:26,289 --> 01:15:28,191
one of the arsonistslooked over--
1479
01:15:28,224 --> 01:15:32,796
looked over toward Alvaroand actually smirked,
1480
01:15:32,829 --> 01:15:34,197
and it was hard to take.
1481
01:15:34,230 --> 01:15:36,299
It was like, "What are you thinking?
1482
01:15:36,332 --> 01:15:37,901
What are you thinking?"
1483
01:15:38,902 --> 01:15:39,936
SHIRLEY: It was very difficult for me
1484
01:15:39,969 --> 01:15:42,739
because seeing my brother there crying
1485
01:15:42,772 --> 01:15:43,773
and then seeing the people
1486
01:15:43,807 --> 01:15:46,042
that actually caused this to happen
1487
01:15:46,075 --> 01:15:48,612
to be there smiling, it was, like,
1488
01:15:48,645 --> 01:15:49,713
"How can you do that?
1489
01:15:49,746 --> 01:15:51,781
Like, do you realize the pain
1490
01:15:51,815 --> 01:15:55,251
you've caused him and the other victims,
1491
01:15:55,284 --> 01:15:58,622
and did you realize that because of what you did,
1492
01:15:58,655 --> 01:16:03,192
you killed three people,three innocent, young people,
1493
01:16:03,226 --> 01:16:05,629
you know,that were full of life?"
1494
01:16:08,632 --> 01:16:09,866
MIKE: Arson is the most difficult
1495
01:16:09,899 --> 01:16:11,134
criminal case to prove.
1496
01:16:11,167 --> 01:16:14,904
Only two percent of arsons result in a conviction,
1497
01:16:14,938 --> 01:16:17,741
either by a guilty verdict or a guilty plea.
1498
01:16:18,842 --> 01:16:20,076
TOMMY PUGLIESE: It was hard for them to pin the kids
1499
01:16:20,109 --> 01:16:21,377
to the actual incident,
1500
01:16:21,410 --> 01:16:24,347
I mean, outside of what they did and what they said
1501
01:16:24,380 --> 01:16:26,916
and what they didn't say and so on and so forth.
1502
01:16:26,950 --> 01:16:28,752
I mean, logistically we had to take it
1503
01:16:28,785 --> 01:16:31,054
because we always ran that risk
1504
01:16:31,087 --> 01:16:34,758
of them going to trialand then walking free.
1505
01:16:34,791 --> 01:16:35,992
It was not uncontroversial,
1506
01:16:36,025 --> 01:16:38,762
but I thoughtthat a very high value
1507
01:16:38,795 --> 01:16:41,931
had to be placed on the aspect of closure
1508
01:16:41,965 --> 01:16:47,336
brought by the open confession of the arsonists.
1509
01:16:47,370 --> 01:16:53,109
I had hoped that the two of them would take this moment to turn
1510
01:16:53,142 --> 01:16:57,647
and face the families and say, "I'm so sorry for what I did.
1511
01:16:57,681 --> 01:17:00,383
I cannot bring your son back. I wish I could."
1512
01:17:02,786 --> 01:17:07,090
JOE: Fifteen seconds to make a written, on yellow pad,
1513
01:17:07,123 --> 01:17:11,761
expression of so-called sorrowand all they said,
1514
01:17:11,795 --> 01:17:14,664
basically, was,"I'm sorry for your loss."
1515
01:17:15,464 --> 01:17:16,465
I'm sorry.
1516
01:17:16,499 --> 01:17:18,434
TV NEWS: LePore and Ryan were unemotional
1517
01:17:18,467 --> 01:17:19,736
through the sentencing.
1518
01:17:19,769 --> 01:17:22,872
Judge Fullilove said he was satisfied with the deal.
1519
01:17:22,906 --> 01:17:25,041
Many people who witnessed the emotional testimony
1520
01:17:25,074 --> 01:17:27,677
spoke of an "imperfect justice."
1521
01:17:27,711 --> 01:17:30,379
If justice is measured by the number of years
1522
01:17:30,413 --> 01:17:32,749
that they're doing behind bars,
1523
01:17:32,782 --> 01:17:35,351
then justice has not been received.
1524
01:17:35,384 --> 01:17:37,754
The reality is we have an imperfect system
1525
01:17:37,787 --> 01:17:39,022
that we work with
1526
01:17:39,055 --> 01:17:41,891
and that I am very, very satisfied
1527
01:17:41,925 --> 01:17:45,294
to see them walk away, handcuffed, to jail
1528
01:17:45,328 --> 01:17:48,064
and that that is a positive result,
1529
01:17:48,097 --> 01:17:49,899
given what we have here.
1530
01:17:49,933 --> 01:17:51,735
SHIRLEY: We just felt that they--
1531
01:17:51,768 --> 01:17:55,438
they needed to be reprimanded for what they did.
1532
01:17:55,471 --> 01:17:58,942
Here, they changed my brother's life forever;
1533
01:17:58,975 --> 01:18:01,745
you know, not only my brother's but Shawn's
1534
01:18:01,778 --> 01:18:05,014
and how about these families that lost their child
1535
01:18:05,048 --> 01:18:08,017
because of their prank?
1536
01:18:08,051 --> 01:18:09,418
That, to me, is not a prank.
1537
01:18:09,452 --> 01:18:11,020
That, to me, is murder.
1538
01:18:19,428 --> 01:18:22,031
ROBIN: Six months after Shawn's recovery,
1539
01:18:22,065 --> 01:18:24,734
he decided, against doctors' orders,
1540
01:18:24,768 --> 01:18:26,936
that he was strong enough to go back to school,
1541
01:18:26,970 --> 01:18:28,237
and he did,
1542
01:18:28,271 --> 01:18:30,439
and Alvaro insisted on being there right by his side.
1543
01:18:32,041 --> 01:18:33,409
ALVARO: That day I was-- I was there for Shawn,
1544
01:18:33,442 --> 01:18:35,478
it was Shawn's first day back at school.
1545
01:18:38,281 --> 01:18:39,816
SHAWN: Going back to school for the first time
1546
01:18:39,849 --> 01:18:41,918
was a little nerve-racking.
1547
01:18:41,951 --> 01:18:44,453
I was afraid, you know,
1548
01:18:44,487 --> 01:18:48,257
of how people were going tolook at me and treat me.
1549
01:18:48,291 --> 01:18:49,392
It felt good to have--
1550
01:18:49,425 --> 01:18:53,062
to be back in school,especially when Mr. Rodriguez
1551
01:18:53,096 --> 01:18:56,065
made me feel comfortable being back in school, too,
1552
01:18:56,099 --> 01:18:58,334
and at first it was a little, you know, weird
1553
01:18:58,367 --> 01:19:00,369
and, you know, I was a little nervous
1554
01:19:00,403 --> 01:19:02,071
but then I got comfortable with it.
1555
01:19:02,105 --> 01:19:05,775
When I saw themwalk in the room,
1556
01:19:05,809 --> 01:19:10,113
I was overcomeby the emotion,
1557
01:19:10,146 --> 01:19:13,482
and for a moment, I had to step out.
1558
01:19:19,022 --> 01:19:22,792
When I came backinto the classroom,
1559
01:19:22,826 --> 01:19:26,996
I wrote on the boarda few words that I--
1560
01:19:27,030 --> 01:19:29,532
I thought expressed a message -
1561
01:19:29,565 --> 01:19:34,938
"compassion," "valor," "sacrificio," "lealtad" -
1562
01:19:34,971 --> 01:19:40,176
that to me proved how the human spirit
1563
01:19:40,209 --> 01:19:43,947
can overcome any adversity.
1564
01:19:43,980 --> 01:19:50,186
The students were amazing too, they way they welcomed them.
1565
01:19:50,219 --> 01:19:56,592
It was really a celebration, and at the same time,
1566
01:19:56,625 --> 01:19:59,528
it was welcoming back an old friend,
1567
01:19:59,562 --> 01:20:01,230
or two old friends.
1568
01:20:04,968 --> 01:20:07,170
( BELLS TOLLING )
1569
01:20:07,203 --> 01:20:09,472
JOE KAROL: When they erected the bell tower,
1570
01:20:09,505 --> 01:20:10,506
and those three bells
1571
01:20:10,539 --> 01:20:13,442
who represent Aaron, Frank, and John,
1572
01:20:13,476 --> 01:20:14,844
that's a perpetual memory,
1573
01:20:14,878 --> 01:20:19,315
that's an everlasting memory that will be there for them.
1574
01:20:19,348 --> 01:20:22,218
The "Remember" stone in front of Boland Hall,
1575
01:20:22,251 --> 01:20:26,489
it goes to the extent of remembering all of the victims.
1576
01:20:26,522 --> 01:20:30,093
( BELLS TOLLING )
1577
01:20:33,229 --> 01:20:36,065
And I know when we go there every January 19th
1578
01:20:36,099 --> 01:20:37,533
for the memorial Mass,
1579
01:20:37,566 --> 01:20:42,371
and you hear those bells go off,it touches my heart.
1580
01:20:47,376 --> 01:20:51,380
SHIRLEY: The memorial service was ten years later and the--
1581
01:20:51,414 --> 01:20:54,918
the emotion in that room was overwhelming.
1582
01:20:57,620 --> 01:21:01,457
It is a day for all of us
1583
01:21:01,490 --> 01:21:06,395
forever etched in the historyof Seton Hall University.
1584
01:21:06,429 --> 01:21:09,598
JOE KAROL: It's a remembrance of all of us
1585
01:21:09,632 --> 01:21:12,068
who were there at the time,
1586
01:21:12,101 --> 01:21:14,470
and it's a lesson in remembrance
1587
01:21:14,503 --> 01:21:17,106
for those who weren't there at the time
1588
01:21:17,140 --> 01:21:19,675
but still attend the Mass.
1589
01:21:19,708 --> 01:21:21,978
This is wheremy life changed
1590
01:21:22,011 --> 01:21:25,281
and I wanted to be thereon the campus on that day
1591
01:21:25,314 --> 01:21:28,985
to see where I've come from and where I'm at now.
1592
01:21:29,018 --> 01:21:31,320
It's a great feelingwhen you have all these people
1593
01:21:31,354 --> 01:21:36,192
that remember that day and--and hopefully try to,
1594
01:21:36,225 --> 01:21:38,627
you know, make it into a positive light.
1595
01:21:38,661 --> 01:21:41,530
For me and forsome of the families,
1596
01:21:41,564 --> 01:21:44,433
it's more like a--a philosophy, really,
1597
01:21:44,467 --> 01:21:48,171
just to, you know, enjoy what you have,
1598
01:21:48,204 --> 01:21:49,605
enjoy the days that you're living
1599
01:21:49,638 --> 01:21:51,340
and enjoy the people that you know
1600
01:21:51,374 --> 01:21:55,344
and the people that you love and you can't stop.
1601
01:21:55,378 --> 01:21:56,379
You gotta keep going.
1602
01:21:57,313 --> 01:21:59,983
MIKE: The carnage of the innocent
1603
01:22:00,016 --> 01:22:02,218
can never be forgotten,
1604
01:22:02,251 --> 01:22:03,586
and I think one of the things
1605
01:22:03,619 --> 01:22:07,223
that makes it so memorable is that it was so senseless,
1606
01:22:07,256 --> 01:22:10,393
that it was an act of just pure stupidity
1607
01:22:10,426 --> 01:22:14,330
and pure cowardice, not malice,
1608
01:22:14,363 --> 01:22:16,332
that causedthis much carnage.
1609
01:22:16,365 --> 01:22:17,600
I thinkthat's one of the things
1610
01:22:17,633 --> 01:22:19,535
that gives the memoryof this fire
1611
01:22:19,568 --> 01:22:21,237
such staying power.
1612
01:22:25,708 --> 01:22:28,077
JOHN: The positive was the sprinkler laws.
1613
01:22:28,111 --> 01:22:29,345
Because of this tragedy,
1614
01:22:29,378 --> 01:22:32,081
all college dormitoriesin New Jersey
1615
01:22:32,115 --> 01:22:33,116
had to be sprinkled.
1616
01:22:34,650 --> 01:22:39,155
ROBIN: Unfortunately, it took the death of three boys
1617
01:22:39,188 --> 01:22:43,526
for laws to be made that mandate sprinklers
1618
01:22:43,559 --> 01:22:45,494
in universities across the country.
1619
01:22:55,038 --> 01:22:56,472
Mrs. Karol's like an angel
1620
01:22:56,505 --> 01:22:59,542
and they have fought relentlessly
1621
01:22:59,575 --> 01:23:02,545
to make sure that other peoplearen't hurt or killed
1622
01:23:02,578 --> 01:23:04,280
the way their own son is.
1623
01:23:04,313 --> 01:23:08,484
Personally, I-- I gained two boys that I love.
1624
01:23:08,517 --> 01:23:11,487
They're like my family.
1625
01:23:11,520 --> 01:23:16,725
Both Shawn and Alvaro visit colleges, college students,
1626
01:23:16,759 --> 01:23:19,762
and that way they keep their message alive.
1627
01:23:19,795 --> 01:23:22,065
( INDISTINCT CHATTER )
1628
01:23:22,098 --> 01:23:23,166
SHAWN: Hi, everybody.
1629
01:23:23,199 --> 01:23:28,737
My name is Shawn Simons,and this is my old roommate,
1630
01:23:28,771 --> 01:23:31,240
Alvaro Llanos,and we are...
1631
01:23:31,274 --> 01:23:33,742
ROBIN: People who are college students now,
1632
01:23:33,776 --> 01:23:36,612
many have not heard about the Seton Hall fire
1633
01:23:36,645 --> 01:23:42,485
and it's-- I know it's part of Shawn and Alvaro's mission
1634
01:23:42,518 --> 01:23:48,491
to make sure that they do know what can happen.
1635
01:23:48,524 --> 01:23:50,326
...going real fastout the door, the--
1636
01:23:50,359 --> 01:23:52,395
the ceiling just fellon top of me
1637
01:23:52,428 --> 01:23:54,730
and my whole jacketjust caught on fire.
1638
01:23:54,763 --> 01:23:57,100
Thank God there was two RA'scoming down the stairs
1639
01:23:57,133 --> 01:23:58,734
the same time this happened.
1640
01:23:58,767 --> 01:23:59,835
I-- I was rolling...
1641
01:23:59,868 --> 01:24:02,238
ROBIN: They-- they're the messengers and--
1642
01:24:02,271 --> 01:24:06,409
and people admire them and respect them for that.
1643
01:24:14,417 --> 01:24:16,652
( indistinct )
1644
01:24:16,685 --> 01:24:18,254
SHAWN: I looked at the friendship
1645
01:24:18,287 --> 01:24:19,655
between me and Al and--
1646
01:24:19,688 --> 01:24:22,491
and say, "Hey, we need to pass this on to other people,
1647
01:24:22,525 --> 01:24:24,793
and say, 'Hey, you know,we're just like you and,
1648
01:24:24,827 --> 01:24:26,162
you know, we've made it.'"
1649
01:24:27,430 --> 01:24:31,434
ROBIN: They became messengers for other burn patients,
1650
01:24:31,467 --> 01:24:34,870
especiallyyoung burn patients.
1651
01:24:34,903 --> 01:24:38,174
I saw Alvaro give one little boy actually
1652
01:24:38,207 --> 01:24:40,243
the will to live where there was no will to live.
1653
01:24:42,678 --> 01:24:45,848
EILEEN: They are resources for our social worker
1654
01:24:45,881 --> 01:24:48,384
to introduce them to other patients
1655
01:24:48,417 --> 01:24:50,519
that have either similar injuries
1656
01:24:50,553 --> 01:24:53,656
or maybe a little bit worse injuries than they had
1657
01:24:53,689 --> 01:24:56,225
and just to show them that, you know,
1658
01:24:56,259 --> 01:24:58,627
these boys were at your pointat one time
1659
01:24:58,661 --> 01:24:59,695
and look at them now.
1660
01:24:59,728 --> 01:25:01,864
They just have a sense of life to them
1661
01:25:01,897 --> 01:25:03,799
that's just inspiring.
1662
01:25:03,832 --> 01:25:06,302
I've gone to the hospitalwith Alvaro and Shawn
1663
01:25:06,335 --> 01:25:09,138
and I've seenhow a burn survivor
1664
01:25:09,172 --> 01:25:11,274
looks depressed inside,
1665
01:25:11,307 --> 01:25:13,776
and the second they see Alvaro and Shawn,
1666
01:25:13,809 --> 01:25:15,711
their eyes light up.
1667
01:25:15,744 --> 01:25:18,581
They look at themas hope that they--
1668
01:25:18,614 --> 01:25:20,683
they can have a lifeafter the fire.
1669
01:25:22,351 --> 01:25:23,919
ALVARO: All that comes from what I have,
1670
01:25:23,952 --> 01:25:26,255
you know, from being burned and--
1671
01:25:26,289 --> 01:25:28,757
and progressing with my life, hopefully they see that
1672
01:25:28,791 --> 01:25:30,893
and motivate them to, you know, try to work hard
1673
01:25:30,926 --> 01:25:32,628
and move on with their lifebecause there's--
1674
01:25:32,661 --> 01:25:34,563
you know,there's better days ahead.
1675
01:25:36,699 --> 01:25:39,902
( BIRDS CHIRPING )
1676
01:25:47,376 --> 01:25:49,645
ROBIN: Shawn and Alvaro chose to get through this
1677
01:25:49,678 --> 01:25:51,447
and they chose to fight through it and--
1678
01:25:51,480 --> 01:25:54,183
and as a result they have better lives now
1679
01:25:54,217 --> 01:25:56,385
than they did, somehow, before the fire.
1680
01:25:57,953 --> 01:26:00,256
ALVARO: I'm happy again, I'm-- I have a great life.
1681
01:26:00,289 --> 01:26:03,592
I have two beautiful kids, and a beautiful wife
1682
01:26:03,626 --> 01:26:06,395
and I'm living a normal life.
1683
01:26:06,429 --> 01:26:09,632
I try not to regretor look back at the past
1684
01:26:09,665 --> 01:26:10,699
and dwell on the past
1685
01:26:10,733 --> 01:26:13,402
because I have a future,you know.
1686
01:26:13,436 --> 01:26:15,538
Just keep going forward.
1687
01:26:15,571 --> 01:26:16,672
SHAWN: We became bigger men
1688
01:26:16,705 --> 01:26:19,742
than we probably would've been without it.
1689
01:26:19,775 --> 01:26:21,244
Our exterior being cracked
1690
01:26:21,277 --> 01:26:23,212
made us stronger men on the inside.
1691
01:26:23,246 --> 01:26:25,248
There's no reasonwhy we can't go through
1692
01:26:25,281 --> 01:26:26,515
anything else in life and--
1693
01:26:26,549 --> 01:26:28,717
and not be able to,you know, get through it.
1694
01:26:28,751 --> 01:26:31,287
PAULA: The most thing that I admire about Alvaro and Shawn
1695
01:26:31,320 --> 01:26:35,658
is their courage to live every day as regular people,
1696
01:26:35,691 --> 01:26:38,594
just to go outand be who they are.
1697
01:26:38,627 --> 01:26:41,264
CHINAIRE FIELDS: They're happy, they have families,
1698
01:26:41,297 --> 01:26:42,531
they love each other.
1699
01:26:42,565 --> 01:26:44,967
I don't believe that Shawn and Al's relationship
1700
01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:46,335
will ever be broken.
1701
01:26:46,369 --> 01:26:48,671
I think it's a veryinspirational story
1702
01:26:48,704 --> 01:26:49,872
on all levels.
1703
01:26:49,905 --> 01:26:53,409
There's a saying that I--like, I relate with my brother.
1704
01:26:53,442 --> 01:26:57,280
It's saying"my story has no value
1705
01:26:57,313 --> 01:26:59,582
if no one can hear it," and every time I hear that,
1706
01:26:59,615 --> 01:27:02,385
I always think of my brother because he has a story and--
1707
01:27:02,418 --> 01:27:04,920
and if people can hear it, I do think they--
1708
01:27:04,953 --> 01:27:06,755
they can get inspired from it.
1709
01:27:06,789 --> 01:27:09,392
CHRIS: I think that the Seton Hall fires
1710
01:27:09,425 --> 01:27:13,662
brought a lot of things to lightfor a very small community,
1711
01:27:13,696 --> 01:27:14,797
but yet a nation,
1712
01:27:14,830 --> 01:27:17,400
and I really thinkthat what it did
1713
01:27:17,433 --> 01:27:18,801
is it made people realize
1714
01:27:18,834 --> 01:27:21,704
that fire does not haveany prejudice,
1715
01:27:21,737 --> 01:27:22,838
it will get anyone,
1716
01:27:22,871 --> 01:27:24,940
and then the inspiration of these two boys,
1717
01:27:24,973 --> 01:27:27,410
that they were able to get through.
1718
01:27:27,443 --> 01:27:30,045
I think that people look at burn patients
1719
01:27:30,078 --> 01:27:31,680
a little bit differently.
1720
01:27:31,714 --> 01:27:33,549
Here is two young boys that are now
1721
01:27:33,582 --> 01:27:35,918
still an active part of the community.
1722
01:27:35,951 --> 01:27:37,353
It absolutely affected everyone.
1723
01:27:37,386 --> 01:27:40,923
It showed everyone you have to pull together in a tragedy,
1724
01:27:40,956 --> 01:27:43,025
and I think that's what our community did.
1725
01:27:45,494 --> 01:27:48,497
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1726
01:30:08,103 --> 01:30:11,106
( MUSIC FADES OUT )
134818
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