Toni Romano rose from her chair, taking the hand of her granddaughter Tahila, to accept a rose from a Clark County victim advocate during this year’s Day of Remembrance ceremony for local homicide victims.
The woman and girl are the mother and daughter of Ariel J. Romano, the most recent homicide in the county.
“These people know the pain of losing a loved one from violent crime,” said Jerry Romano, Ariel’s father. “They’re one of us.”
About 100 people attended the annual ceremony, held every September at the Clark County Public Service Center in connection with the National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims. It’s held to honor the homicide victims and their loved ones and to support crime victims’ rights and services.
Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik started the ceremony by telling the crowd that gathering to remember the victims was important to him and to the employees in his office.
“It reminds us, and we all need to be reminded,” Golik said.
A pamphlet handed out at the ceremony lists four homicides in the county for 2018. Last year, law enforcement here investigated 16 homicides — a five-year high.
All responses of grief ‘understandable’
The lead prosecutor for the community introduced victim advocate Amy Harlan, who’s been helping families of homicide victims navigate the criminal justice system locally for 16 years.
Harlan recalled the feeling of nervousness she had when she started the job. She said she wanted to say all the right things to survivors and to have all the answers. The job hasn’t become easier, Harlan said, but that initial feeling of apprehension has morphed into a feeling of honor in helping people in need.
“I’ve made many calls (to victims), some short and quiet, some intense,” she said. “All are understandable responses to their experience.”
Last year, Harlan was sitting in the trial of Brent Luyster, who was found guilty in November of three counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of his best friend Zachary David Thompson, 36; his friend Joseph Mark LaMar, 38; and LaMar’s partner, Janell Renee Knight, 43, about a year earlier.
Harlan was sitting next to Knight’s family member.
On that particular day, the Clark County Medical Examiner testified about Knight’s autopsy as pictures of the woman’s body were displayed for the jury. Harlan had told the family they didn’t have to stay in the courtroom, but that family member decided to stay put.
When the gruesome pictures of Knight were shown in court, the family member reached for her phone, found a photo of Knight and focused on it.
“She chose to remember (Knight) on her own terms. I’ve shared this with other victim advocates and survivors,” Harlan said, thanking the woman for teaching her the coping method.
‘Drain on the soul’
Jerry Romano said after the ceremony that he has not been involved in the cases against the three men allegedly tied to his son’s death.
Harlan has called the Romanos to keep them informed about the court process, but Jerry Romano said he’s otherwise kept the legal goings-on at a distance.
“To get too close to that is a drain on the soul,” he said.
Ariel Romano, 29, was shot and killed on June 9 during what investigators have described as a drug deal gone wrong. Washington State Patrol troopers initially thought Romano died in the crash while street racing but later discovered he had been shot in the head while driving away from two men pursuing him in another vehicle.
In the weeks following the death, three men were charged with murder: Justin Schell, 44, Jonathan “Jon Jon” Oson, 36, and Raul Flores, 44.
The 29-year-old man had been struggling with heroin addiction. He was taking Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, and holding down two jobs, according to his father.
“He was struggling, but he had his bouts,” Jerry Romano said. “As far as we could tell, he was getting better.”
The father said he does not hold a grudge against the men accused of killing his son. He asked aloud what kind of fathers raised the men, what kind of upbringings they went through.
If they’re convicted, Jerry Romano said, he’d have no problem visiting the men to help them gain redemption.
“They were likely going through the same struggle as my son,” he said, adding, “Pain not transformed is pain transmitted.”
