Dear Ethan Michael Asbach and your unnamed girlfriend:
Dec. 19 or Dec. 20 marked the four-month anniversary of Aron Christensen’s murder.
Four months was also the age of his heeler puppy, Buzzo, when he was killed beside his person. The puppy you claim was growling and menacing enough to scare you into shooting into the dark.
I call out the two dates because Aron’s community still doesn’t get to have answers. There have been no arrests or charges, even though you have been named. We don’t know when you killed him. We don’t know where and certainly not why you did this horrific act.
Four months gone and the two of you walk free, able to celebrate the holiday season in the comfort of home with family and friends. Aron and Buzz will never again be home or in the company of family and friends. Aron will never again join multiple houses for dessert after Thanksgiving or Christmas meals. Bringing his delicious pies or food, always enough for everyone. He will never see his own family table or the nieces and nephews he left behind. He won’t ever again hug his mom or dad. He will never again get to tease his sister or talk music with his brother.
You are both free and going about your lives, even though you have admitted to taking two. You left Walupt Lake 11 hours after Aron left the same trailhead and you met him where? Was it even dark when you met Aron? One bullet went through them both? Was it even an accident?
Obviously, you are protecting yourselves, but why are you also being protected by law enforcement? Who are you that is so important? Are you still pursuing a career as an electrician? Is your unnamed girlfriend finishing up high school this year? Will she make honor roll or be valedictorian?
How do you live with this guilt and shame of your actions? How do you look at yourselves in the mirror, knowing you killed a man? A man who was loved dearly and is missed daily?
When the time comes for you to answer for your actions, I can hope for honesty but I doubt that will ever happen. Self-preservation is an instinct, but the conscience is also very real. The weight of this crime will get heavier. The shame will eat away your heart. The connections throughout the rest of your lives will always be stunted and dishonest. Unless you’re sociopaths, then you will seek out murder again. Maybe you already have. Your county seems to be OK with that.
Kate Meredith
Portland
