Family of McVeigh Whenever Mililani resident Bonnie DeGuzman-Woodfall hears the name or sees the face of Timothy McVeigh, the face of her cousin, Randy Guzman, flashes through her mind.
victim say the
death still hurts
An isle cousin of a man
who perished in the bombing
says McVeigh should dieBy Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin"Even though it's been some years, it still hurts," said DeGuzman-Woodfall, her voice breaking with emotion. Guzman, 28, was one of 168 people killed in the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.
McVeigh abandoned legal efforts to stop his execution yesterday after an appeals court rejected his request for a stay. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Hawaii time Monday.
"He does not have remorse. He does not apologize. He's getting away too easily," DeGuzman-Woodfall said.
"Maybe he should be tortured like the parents and kids and people like me who are suffering today, but those are ugly thoughts."
She sees McVeigh as a cold-hearted murderer with whom she finds it hard to sympathize. DeGuzman-Woodfall had been a staunch opponent of the death penalty.
"In this case I'm not against it. My whole attitude has changed," she said. "He deserves it so much -- so many innocent lives. He should be in a hard-core prison, so he can feel the suffering and the pain we feel."
Marine Capt. Randolph Guzman was killed while working as operations manager of the Marine recruiting office on the sixth floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
He was to have been married three months later to a woman who also worked in the building but was not at work that day.
On the day of the bombing, Guzman was supposed to be playing basketball with some Marine buddies, but decided to go in to the office.
Guzman's Hawaii relatives describe him as not the stereotypical tough Marine, but a nice guy who never spoke ill of anyone, loved kids and had a positive outlook on life.
Guzman, raised in California, drew close to his extended Hawaii family while stationed at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base for four years from 1989.
"He'd always attend our family gatherings," said his uncle Gerald DeGuzman of Mililani. "He liked to party with us. It made him feel like a local boy. ... He treated his uncles and cousins with a lot of respect."
Commenting on Monday's execution, DeGuzman said, "It's nice to have closure -- that's the important thing -- and it will save everybody time, money and misery."
Guzman is survived by parents Rudy and Linda Guzman and brother Rudy Jr., who live in Alameda, Calif.
DeGuzman said he spoke with his brother, Rudy Guzman Sr., a month ago and that he had expressed a desire to attend McVeigh's execution last month, and he expected that he felt the same now.
After hearing the execution would go on, another uncle, Julius Guzman, said from his Monterey, Calif., home: "If there's a delay, I guess it's harder on the people that lost their loved ones. I want to see it done. ... Some don't go for the death penalty, but I do."