30 years
ago on this date, October 9, 1984, Melvyn Otterstrom was shot and killed by
Ronnie Lee Gardner in Salt Lake City, Utah. Justice was served 26 years later,
when the killer was put to death by firing squad on June 18, 2010. Let us hear
from Otterstrom’s loved ones who remembered the way he lived.
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Melvyn Otterstrom had joined a Green Beret
unit. (Otterstrom family photo)
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INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=81098790
Birth:
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May 1, 1947
Salt Lake City Salt Lake County Utah, USA |
Death:
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Oct. 9, 1984
Salt Lake City Salt Lake County Utah, USA |
Melvyn John Otterstrom, a
husband and father who was a controller for the Utah Paper Box Co. by day and
temporarily working part-time as a bartender in the evening to help a
relative. Fun-filled and fearless, Melvyn joined the 19th Special Forces
Group of the Utah National Guard and loved to climb mountains.
Melvyn and his wife Kathy were married on December 19, 1969. They put each other through college at the University of Utah, bought a house, and planned a future for their baby boy, Jason, now a grown man. Melvyn would have been so proud of what Jason has accomplished in his life. |
Burial:
Unknown Specifically: Salt Lake City UT |
Created by: DogMama08 Record added: Nov 27, 2011 Find A Grave Memorial# 81098790 |
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Relatives say Melvyn Otterstrom, shown here
with great-grandma Theresa and his wife, Kathy, was a family man. (Otterstrom
family photo)
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INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700039867/Melvyn-Otterstrom-was-glue-to-his-family.html?pg=all
Melvyn
Otterstrom was 'glue' to his family
Relatives say his killer, Ronnie Lee
Gardner, is 'like a deadly disease'
By Emiley Morgan,
Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Over the years,
Melvyn Otterstrom has become an almost mythic figure to those in his family who
have had to carry on without him.
"He was the glue in
our family,"
said niece Jenny Sedgwick. "Melvyn was
security and safety to us, and when he was gone, it was, 'Now what?' He was
safety; he would be there to help us if we needed him. Many times I've thought:
'If Melvyn was here, maybe that would be different.' "
"He made everything
all right,"
added his sister and only sibling, Carolyn Crawford. "If
Melvyn were around, everything would be fine."
But Otterstrom could never right all
the wrongs. He could never pull out his trumpet and "play 'Moon River' to
make you cry," as his life was stolen 25 years ago on an October night in
1984.
Otterstrom, a comptroller working for
Utah Paper Box, was also working one night a week as a bartender at Cheers
Tavern in Salt Lake City. In a robbery gone wrong, Ronnie Lee Gardner shot the
man once in the face, leaving him to be discovered later by his wife, Kathy.
Otterstrom was the first murder
attributed to Gardner. Gardner was in court facing charges for Otterstrom's
death when he grabbed a gun that had been smuggled into the building. As he
tried to escape, Gardner shot and killed defense attorney Michael Burdell and
wounded court bailiff George "Nick" Kirk. He was sentenced to die and
then went to work appealing the death sentence.
And, in the interim, Melvyn Otterstrom
became "a bartender," "another man," a mere footnote.
"That is something
that has hurt us all these years," Sedgwick said. "It's just kind of an injustice to portray him as
just a bartender. He loved adventures, he loved mountain climbing, he was a
businessman, and he took his job seriously."
Otterstrom was 37 years old when he
died, a married father of one with a large, tight-knit extended family. An avid
outdoorsman, he was a lover of life who enjoyed learning, hunting, cars and
spending time with his family. He was "very outgoing, very friendly and
funny, but could turn and be very serious," Crawford said.
An Eagle Scout, Otterstrom went on to
join a Green Beret unit with the Utah National Guard before graduating with a
degree in business administration and accounting at the University of Utah. His
family describes Kathy as the "love of his life" with whom he had a
son of whom he was extremely proud.
Jason Otterstrom, who was just 3 when
his father was killed, is now engaged to be married and is pursuing a doctorate
degree.
To Otterstrom's cousin, Craig Watson,
Jason Otterstrom is an example of not letting challenges define your life — a
marked contrast to what Gardner is arguing in his attempts to have his life
spared.
"They keep talking
about how Gardner struggled in his childhood, but we make our own bed and then
we have to lie in it,"
Watson said. "You look at Jason, and you don't
think he's struggled without a dad? He's getting a Ph.D, for hell's sake. There
are a whole bunch of people who have had tough lives, and they didn't turn into
murderers."
Gardner has become a plague on the
family, an illness that won't abate. In a statement written to the Utah Board
of Pardons, the family wrote: "Mr. Gardner is
injected into our family like a deadly disease."
"Every time this comes
up, it consumes our family," Sedgwick said.
The way the family sees it, Gardner is
responsible for five deaths. Melvyn Otterstrom and Michael Burdell, yes, but
also Kirk, who died eight years after he was shot from issues stemming from the
stomach wound, and Melvyn Otterstrom's parents, John and Florence, who never
recovered from their son's death.
As the years pass and Gardner
resurfaces in the headlines, they have to remind the younger generations of who
Melvyn was. They question how it can take so long to bring someone to justice.
It becomes painfully frustrating for the family members, who want to put
Gardner out of their minds.
"It bothers me it took
so long,"
Crawford said. "It needs to be over and done. It
just needs to end."
Sedgwick points out that Gardner
killed Otterstrom after he had escaped from prison, and Burdell was killed
during another escape. She feels society is not safe until Gardner is dead.
Even then, his death will never return her beloved uncle, who "was kind of
a big brother, kind of a father figure" to her.
"He was always
there for us,"
she said. "Every time we get together as a
family, I feel like we're painfully reminded that he's gone. It's like, the
family is not complete. We just miss him all the time."
Please
go to this Blog Post to hear from the
victims’ families whom justice was served.
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Melvyn Otterstrom's son, Jason Otterstrom,
makes a statement during Ronnie Lee Gardner's commutation hearing.
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