In today's Omaha World Herald:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10587567
Published Monday March 16, 2009
Classmates, neighbors remember 11-year-old slaying victim
BY LYNN SAFRANEK
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
It had been a day much like Sunday.
Friends and neighbors in Dundee had been enjoying some of the first nice days of spring, shaking off winter as they strolled down tree-lined streets, unaware of a shocking crime in their midst.
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• Photo showcase: Tom Hunter vigil On that beautiful March day a year ago, two lives were stolen and so many hearts were broken. Thomas Hunter, 11, and Shirlee Sherman, the Hunter family's 57-year-old housecleaner, were killed by an intruder on March 13 inside the family's home near 54th and Davenport Streets.
One year later, the people who had gathered on the sloped front lawn of the Hunter home included grade school girls wearing pastels and holding candles; adolescent boys waiting to release colorful balloons; solemn-faced parents, some hiding their tears behind sunglasses.
Sunday was about Tom. It would stay beautiful.
Neighbors organized a vigil at the Hunter home for Tom's classmates from King Science and Technology Magnet Center and the neighborhood to mark the one-year anniver-
sary with prayers and songs.
They would not dwell on the lack of arrests or lack of answers. The Hunter and Sherman families still don't know why the two were killed.
Instead, the focus was on Tom and on comforting his family.
Tom was the kid who was "so at ease with himself," neighbor Mary Rommelfanger told the 75 people gathered.
He was happy to be hanging out with friends or socializing with neighbors.
And he would probably think that such a large group gathered in his front yard was pretty cool.
A few of Tom's friends stood on the Hunters' porch, scanning the crowd, while one of Tom's classmates read a prayer.
Then, seven boys moved onto the porch stairs. For sad young guys remembering their buddy, this was tough work. One by one, each read a line of another prayer.
"At the rising of the sun and its going down," the first boy spoke.
In soft, subdued voices, the crowd responded: "We remember Tom."
The boy released a single balloon, his composure breaking as the balloon drifted upward.
He bit his lip, but that didn't help. So he started to cry, wiping his nose with the edge of his hoodie sleeve.
Tom's next friend read his line, then shielded his tearful face with the vigil program, a photo of Tom swinging a Nintendo Wii controller now facing the crowd.
The seventh boy ended with a message of hope.
"As long as we live, he too will live, for he is now a part of us."
The crowd replied: "We remember Tom.
The boys returned to the porch to find comfort in Tom's older brother, Robert.
A teenage boy playing a guitar struck the chords to an old, familiar tune.
"When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand," a few neighbors led in song.
Others chimed in.
"Close your eyes and think of me, and soon I will be there," their voices rose, "to brighten up even your darkest night."
The show of solidarity reflects a neighborhood trying to soldier on. We're a strong neighborhood, they said.
Even so, Tom's death has changed them. A car can't be parked on the street without someone taking note, catching those details that the neighbors wish they had gotten the day of his death. Parents keep an even closer eye on their kids.
Tom's parents, Drs. Claire and William Hunter III, are private people. Their neighbors realized how difficult it was for them to allow this public outpouring for their son.
But the neighbors couldn't let the day pass without remembering Tom.
"We love the Hunters," said Wendy Wiesman. "We love them."
At the vigil's end, Claire Hunter returned the love by passing around round red tins of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
• Contact the writer: 444-1083,
lynn.safranek@owh.com
* * *
Have information? Call the Omaha Police Department's homicide unit at 402-444-5656. Tips can be left anonymously at
www.omahacrimestoppers.net or by calling Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-7867.
