Name: Kawashima, Takuya
Location: Japan

When I heard about this I was more horrified than I was shocked. I mean, for someone to actually plan and murder some innocent woman who he was apparently very close with in the past is just demonic.

What could have driven Ricky to do something this horrific? Revenge? Some are saying that it was his childhood in the Family that made him do this.—That he was abused and used or whatever, and that all children in the Family also suffer this treatment. I don’t know Ricky personally but from what I’ve read via the Mo Letters, “Life with Grandpas” and the Davidito stories, he was raised with so much love and attention that it almost seemed like he was spoiled. And I think that almost every child in the Family now can say the same thing. All the children I’ve lived with in the Family Homes have all their educational, physical, and spiritual needs met and more.

I’ve also been raised in the Family and I can say that I have never been without. My parents and teachers have always tried to back me up and help me if there was something I wanted to learn or some goal I wanted to pursue. Sure, if I look back and think, I might be able to remember a time when I was given swats and spanks with paddles. Sure it kinda pisses you off when you think about the times when you got punished too harshly and unjustly, but will it ever be enough to make me want to murder that person? I think not!

And you can say all you want and bring on all the “reasons” you can think of to make it justifiable, but the fact still remains that he committed a crime … murder! I mean, good god, wake up and see where your hate and bitterness is taking you. What in the world did it do for Ricky? Nothing!! He freakin’ shot himself after!

I just pray that I will never have that kind of hate and bitterness ruling my life. And I also pray for Angela and Ricky’s family and friends and that nobody else will have to go through the same sorrow and loss that they must be feeling right now.

Takuya Kawashima is a second generation member of the Family International, currently residing in Japan.