BOISE, Idaho — SueZann Bosler’s life took a dark turn on December 22nd 1986 in Florida. She and her father lived on a parsonage next to the church where her father was minister. On that day the someone knocked on their door.
- Bosler and her father were attacked by a man with a knife
- SueZann survived but her father did not
- Bosler lobbied to get the man guilty of the crimes off Florida's Death Row
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
SueZann Bosler’s life took a dark turn on December 22nd 1986 in Florida. She and her father lived on a parsonage next to the church where her father was minister. On that day the someone knocked on their door.
SueZann Bosler describes what happened when her father answered the door.
“As soon as my dad opened the door I heard him making painful noises," said Bosler, "and when I went out to the hallway to look down to see what was happening he was leaning on the kitchen doorway getting stabbed with a knife multiple times over and over and over.”
The intruder then came after her.
“For some strange reason I don’t know how I did it I instantly held my breath to pretend as if I were dead because I could hear him above me breathing very hard, from all the work he had just done, he was out of breath.”
Decades later, SueZann Bosler is a co-founder of a group called Journey of Hope, from Violence to Healing, a group that travels the country trying to convince state lawmakers to abolish the death penalty.
Bosler was there last Wednesday protesting Thomas Creech’s scheduled execution.
RELATED: Thomas Creech's fate remains uncertain after unsuccessful execution attempt
But why would someone who suffered such a savage attack and watch her father die be part of this group? At the trial of James Bernard Campbell, the man arrested for the crime, Bosler forgave him.
“Before the jurors came in I said James I forgive you whether you accept it or not, I forgive you," said Bosler. "It was at that moment I didn’t just say the word I meant the words from here and I had more power and energy to save his life after I 100 percent forgave him.”
Colette Cohen finds it hard to forgive convicted death row inmate Thomas Creech.
RELATED: David Jensen's sister speaks out as Thomas Creech faces execution for her brother's murder
We spoke with her days before the scheduled execution of Thomas Creech. Creech was found guilty of killing her brother David Jensen in prison decades ago. She waited a very long time for execution of Thomas Creech.
“I fact that Creech will actually be executed on time after all these years, that will give me closure but it’ll never make it." Cohen says "it’ll never change the fact that I’ll never have my brother back."
As we reported, Creech returned to his cell on death row after the state failed to administer the drug needed to kill him.
RELATED: Creech execution on hold. Medical technicians can't find a vein
For SueZann Bosler she will continue her campaign to abolish the death penalty. “If I was going to help the government pre-plan his murder I would be a murderer too and I refuse to be like him I refuse to be like that.”
