Ms. Chavez

I knew she was ready when her face was at peace. Before, her jaw was tight. She was calm. I said, “I think this is what ready looks like for you.”

After about seven months, Ms. Chavez decided it was time to sit down together.

Ms. Bergquist

My purpose in going there was to share Josh with him, because if he had known my son, he would never have done it.

Timothy

She started crying. She was hurt. To come face to face with your son’s killer, you know, nothing can really prepare you for that. It was uncomfortable.



Ms. Bergquist

I had him watch my son’s funeral. I brought pictures, caps and diploma from high school, the bells off his baby shoes, some pictures of his tattoos. He had gorgeous tattoos — one was of praying hands on his left forearm with his grandpa’s rosary beads and handcuffs around the wrists and sun rays. I also brought in his shirt, which still had his blood on it from that night. We talked for four and a half hours.

Timothy

It humanized him to me and made me see how he was loved by her and her family. I took a part of them that I can never give back.

Ms. Bergquist

I cried when he first came in the room and maybe when I took out Josh’s shirt from that night. It was cut up the middle, covered in dried blood and bullet holes. I laid the shirt out on the table, the whole room smelled of Josh’s cologne. And I looked up at Timothy, and I said, “Do you smell that?” He said, “Yeah.” I teared up, and I said, “Josh is here.”

Timothy

I was already crying and everything when I saw the funeral tape. She introduced me to her reality. I didn’t try to justify anything. I shouldn’t have killed him. When I saw him laying in that casket ... I took that joy away from them.

Ms. Bergquist

He started really apologizing. It was definitely genuine. When I left the meeting, I felt like I had been power-washed. I felt so at peace. I couldn’t help my son that night, but I have someone here that I can help turn his life around, do better. We’ve let him know we’re there for him if he needs something. We want to make sure when he gets out he’s set up for success and not failure.

Timothy

She said she forgave me. It was a relief because I really hoped she would forgive me.

Ms. Bergquist

I told him that I forgive him for what he’s done. And I do forgive him. I can’t forget what he did. I live with it. But I do forgive him. My head quit spinning. I’m O.K. that my son’s gone. I miss the little guy. I love him. I’m at peace with his death.

In April 2016, the two met again — this time at a victims’ awareness event at the prison in front of inmates.

“She called me her friend,” Timothy said. “A woman forgiving her son’s killer and calling him her friend. And at the end, she got up and gave me a hug. You just don’t see that too often.”

(In this related article, Zachary Harrison struggles to understand why the parents of the man he killed want to meet him.)