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723 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENT, 2d SERIES
Jesus had walked there and had
preached.’’ (Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009,
p. 154, ln. 24–25; p. 155, ln. 1) She explained that a neighboring church group
that aspired to visit the Holy Land came
to Carmelo’s church and wanted to form a
larger group to make the trip. Once Carmelo saw that his dream could become a
reality, he decided to join the group and
was very excited. (Trial Transcript, Dec.
2, 2009, p. 155, ln. 2–16)
Carmelo very much wanted for Eladia to
accompany him to the Holy Land. They
had always traveled on vacation together—
to see children (sisters Luz and Ruth) who
were living in New York or otherwise—
and Carmelo would never travel without
her. But at that time Carmelo was planning the trip to Israel, Eladia’s blood pressure was too high, and her doctor advised
her that it would be better for her to stay
at home. (Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009,
p. 155, ln. 18–24)
On the day of the trip, Gloria and Eladia
accompanied Carmelo to the airport to say
goodbye, and Gloria described Carmelo
and his fellow tour group members as
‘‘euphoric.’’ (Trial Transcript, Dec. 2,
2009, p. 156, ln. 2–7)
Early the next morning, Gloria was
awakened by a call from a woman from
their church, who indicated that there had
been a massacre at Lod Airport. Gloria
immediately turned on the radio and started listening to the news, which announced
that a Carmen Calderon had been murdered in the attack. Because Gloria had a
cousin named Carmelo Calderon, she assumed that this cousin had flown with the
group to Israel and had unfortunately
been killed. As she continued to listen to
the news, however, she suddenly realized
that the radio announcer had changed the
name on the victims list from ‘‘Carmen
Calderon’’ to ‘‘Carmelo Calderon.’’ (Trial
Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, pp. 156 and 157)
Overcome with shock and grief, Gloria fell
to her knees and asked God to help her.
(Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, p. 157, ln.
15–17)
Gloria said at trial: ‘‘I really don’t remember what I did TTT All I know is that
well, when I calmed down, I—I thought of
my younger brother Miguel, who was a
police officer, and I thought that maybe
he—he—since he was a police officer, he
was going to be stronger, and he could
help me give my mother the news. Since
he lived upstairs, I called him, and he
came down; but when I told him the news,
well, he—well, he couldn’t anymore.’’
(Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, p. 157, ln.
15–25, p. 158, ln. 1–2)
Gloria then faced the excruciating task
of breaking the news of her father’s murder to her mother. She remembered, ‘‘I
gave her the news TTT and she began to
talk and talk, that I thought that she had
gone crazy.’’ (Trial Transcript, Dec. 2,
2009, p. 158, ln. 4–8)
The family and neighbors all gathered at
the house of Carmelo and Eladia; the only
updates they received about what had happened to their father was from the news.
(Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, p. 158, ln.
11–19)
It took roughly seven days for Carmelo’s
body to be returned to Puerto Rico, and
Gloria stated that she felt ‘‘desperate’’ during this time. She added ‘‘But the Lord
gives you strength.’’ (Trial Transcript,
Dec. 2, 2009, p. 158, ln. 4–8)
Gloria testified that when she saw her
father’s body at the wake, ‘‘The only thing
I could do, was to touch him.’’ (Trial
Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, p. 158, ln. 4–8)
Gloria said that the loss of her father
dramatically affected the entire family, especially her mother. For a long time the
family didn’t do the things it had always
done, like go out to the countryside togeth-