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Heart and Soul: The Right Thing: My son’s killer, next door

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Mary, Oshea and Laramiun

08/02/2019 GMT

My son’s killer, next door

The Right Thing

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, The Right Thing, My son’s killer, next door

For years Mary Johnson couldn’t forgive her son’s killer. Now he is her ‘spiritual son'

For years Mary Johnson couldn’t forgive her son’s killer. Now he is her ‘spiritual son'.

On 12 February 1993 Mary Johnson’s only son, 20-year-old Laramiun Byrd, was murdered. The perpetrator was 16-year-old Oshea Israel, who received a 25-year sentence for second degree murder. Many years later Mary visited Oshea in prison, and after his release in 2010 they lived as neighbours in the Northside community of Minneapolis – and developed a strong bond. Mary, driven by her Christian faith, now runs From Death to Life, an organisation she founded to promote healing and reconciliation between families of victims and those who have caused harm.

Mike Wooldridge hears from Mary, who says Oshea is her ‘spiritual son’, from Oshea who explains how transformative the initial meeting with Mary was, and from the mothers of murderers and victims of murder as they come together to share their pain.

Heart and Soul: The Right Thing

The stories of people who have faced some of the most difficult situations imaginable.

Mike Wooldridge presents a series featuring people who have had to make tough choices in order to do what they felt was the right thing. In each story, faith plays a key part, whether providing a motivation to choose a particular path, intervening as an unexpected influence, or as a cultural backdrop to difficult decisions.

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Heart and Soul

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My son’s killer, next door

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