Families of Va. Tech massacre victims hold out for answers

After Seung Hui Cho killed 33 people, including himself, at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, most of the victims’ families accepted a settlement that prohibited them from suing the university or the state. The families of Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde refused, creating a schism in a small community born of bloodshed and bound by anger and grief.

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March 14, 2012

Celeste and Grafton Peterson talk to the news media at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Christiansburg, Va., after a jury awarded them and the Prydes $4 million each in an eight-day civil trial in the wrongful death case brought against state of Virginia.

Don Petersen / AP

March 26, 2012

Celeste Peterson has left daughter Erin’s room just as it was when the 18-year-old died in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

Nikki Kahn / The Washington Post

March 26, 2012

Photographs of Erin Peterson at her parents’ home in Centreville are a permanent reminder of the young woman’s passion for basketball.

Nikki Kahn / The Washington Post

April 9, 2011

Vernon Peterson walks past the grave of his granddaughter Erin Peterson in Rock Hill Cemetery in Unison.

Tracy A. Woodward / The Washington Post

March 9, 2012

Karen and Harry Pryde hold hands during Grafton Peterson’s testimony. The Prydes’ 23-year-old daughter, Julia, was also killed in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech.

Stephanie Klein-Davis / AP

March 9, 2012

Leah Palmer, half sister of Julia Pryde, and their brother, Keith Pryde, embrace after each testified at the wrongful death trial.

Stephanie Klein-Davis / AP

March 12 2012

Defense attorney William Broaddus, left, holds a map of the Virginia Tech campus as vice president of student affairs, Ed Spencer, right, comments on it in testimony. Spencer was describing walking from his office on campus to a dorm room crime scene the morning of April 16, 2007.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 12, 2012

A labeled notebook sits on the plaintiff’s table in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansburg. The book was part of a civil case brought by the families of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson. Their wrongful death civil lawsuit alleged that lives could have been spared if school officials had moved more quickly to alert the campus after the first two victims were shot in a dorm.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 12 2012

Blacksburg Police Chief Kim Craniss is sworn in on the witness stand in Montgomery County Circuit Court during the civil case brought by the families of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 12, 2012

Attorney Robert Hall, top, argues from the plaintiff’s table as Harry Pryde touches his brow in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 12 2012

Virginia Tech legal counselor Kay Kurtz Heidbreder testifies in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Heidbreder was being questioned by a plaintiff’s attorney on her role in a policy meeting the morning of April 16, 2007.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 13 2012

Attorneys defending the state, from left, Jeremy Byrum, William Broaddus, Mike Melis and Kay Kurtz Heidbreder confer over a document as proceedings come to a close in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 13, 2012

The mother of Virginia Tech massacre survivor Emily Haas, Lori Haas of Richmond, testifies in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 14, 2012

Defense attorneys Peter Messitt, right, and William Broaddus, left, hold a map of the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall, the site of Cho’s first two killings.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 14, 2012

Defense attorney Peter Messitt carries a boxload of exhibits toward the bench in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 14, 2012

Judge William Alexander reads instructions to the jury in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 14, 2012

Defense attorneys, from left, Kay Kurtz Heidbreder, Mike Melis and Peter Messitt address the court after the verdict is reached. Jurors deliberated for 3½ hours before siding with the parents of two students who were killed on April 16, 2007, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Sam Dean / AP

March 14, 2012

Grafton Peterson, right, father of Virginia Tech massacre victim Erin Peterson, wipes his brow in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Matt Gentry / AP

March 14 2012

Celeste Peterson, right, mother of Virginia Tech massacre victim Erin Peterson, cries after the verdict is read.

Sam Dean / AP

March 14, 2012

Karen Pryde, mother of Virginia Tech massacre victim Julia Pryde, hugs attorney Robert Hall after the verdict.

Sam Dean / AP

March 14, 2012

Celeste Peterson, right, hugs Karen Pryde after the verdict.

Sam Dean / AP

March 14, 2012

From left, Celeste and Grafton Peterson and Karen and Harry Pryde leave the Montgomery County Courthouse in Christiansburg, where each family was awarded $4 million in an eight-day civil trial in the wrongful death case brought against the state of Virginia.

Don Petersen / AP

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