it s a grand name perhaps for a weekly paper in an out of the way little town, the world journal. but then walsenberg was a thriving coal mines offered endless promise. now antique stores like pam and ralphs filled the gaps left behind by departing commerce. i think in all small towns, you see, maybe a degree of selling the heritage because there s nothing else left to sell. so no surprise said eric mullens of the world journal. invasion and killing at the candelario place was a big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. we didn t know who was out there. people like their neighbors, dina and mark. i was afraid. i didn t even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening because i was afraid to be out. a lot of people got guns. a lot of neighbors told me. i went out and got a gun. you know? i want to protect myself.
then he pointed his gun at me and fired. it just clicked. i can t fully say what happened to me at that point. in fact, he was so scared, he said, he soiled his pajamas. he wrote that his ordeal began after he and pam went to bed on tuesday night, not wednesday, as he originally thought. and it lasted nearly two days. he woke up on thursday morning. i thought my nightmare was over. but i looked down the hall, and i could see pam s legs in the kitchen. that s when he ran out of the house and found his neighbor who called 911. of course, the world journal printed all that though the police weren t too happy about it. and eric mullens? i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didn t say that. and picking it back up again. but remarkable as ralph s letter was, it still wasn t the whole story.
ralph wasn t shot, but he was hurt. and he was air lifted to the nearest trauma hospital. walsenburg, as local reporter eric mullens knew, was not equipped to handle an investigation of this magnitude. you have small town departments, five, six, seven people. you don t have murder cops on staff. you don t have forensic professionals on staff. so by the time shannon arrived at the hospital looking for her mother, an agent of the colorado bureau of investigation was there to meet her. along with aaron. how did she take it? about as well as you expect anybody to get hit by a sledgehammer or whatever. first you re just kind of shocked, then a little bit of denial. suddenly i realized that that last conversation i had with her was that was it. no fresh start now. her mother was dead. and then shannon saw ralph. and he lost it. he just turned into a sobbing,
went into the house with guns drawn. and there at the entrance to the kitchen, still in her nightgown, lay pam candelario. her head covered in blood. i knew she was dead when the ambulance showed up, because they didn t go into the house. they just stayed, and were working on ralph. ralph wasn t shot, but he was hurt. and he was air lifted to the nearest trauma hospital. walsenburg, as local reporter eric mullens knew, was not equipped to handle an investigation of this magnitude. you have small town departments, five, six, seven people. you don t have murder cops on staff. you don t have forensic professionals on staff. so by the time shannon arrived at the hospital looking for her mother, an agent of the colorado bureau of investigation was there to meet her. along with aaron. how did she take it? about as well as you expect anybody to get hit by a
reporter: suicide attempt, delaying tactic, whatever it was it didn t work. a day later the judge ordered ralph back to court. people versus ralph lee candelario sentencing. reporter: and ralph, bandaged up, got another day in the spotlight. your honor, i have maintained that i have been innocent through this whole process. reporter: and then a keen observer might almost have heard the jaws drop around the courtroom. pam will be resurrected. we will be able to see her again. we will be able to watch her laugh and sing and do all the things that made her such a special person. and in that regard, i put my hope in that future. but until then, i am going to file an appeal for this particular motion. reporter: for now his future is life without the possibility of parole. i had never had a weight so heavy lifted. it was