From the New York Daily News
BY Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, July 27th 2009, 10:55 AM
Herryka Pietrzak-Vegas, the mother of murdered Marine Sgt. Pawel Pietrzak and his wife Quiana receieved a form letter response after she wrote President Obama.
Related News Articles
Cold-blooded order aired in Calif. slay of Marine, wife
Mothers to face criminals who killed Marine Sgt., wife
Suspects in murder of marine, wife drank beer after slay: witness
Grim twist in torture slay of Marine, wife: racial epithets on walls of home
Seven months after she poured out her heartbreak in a wrenching letter to then President-elect Obama, the mother of murdered Brooklyn Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak finally got a response - a form letter.
"Thank you for contacting President Obama," the note to Henryka Pietrzak-Varga begins. "We hope the issue you brought to the President's attention has been resolved."
Pietrzak-Varga, whose son and daughter-in-law were tortured and murdered last year allegedly by four other Marines, told a Polish newspaper she doubts Obama saw her letter.
"This is a standard response, something that can be sent out to anyone for any matter," the disappointed mom told the Dziennik Wschodni newspaper.
"What am I supposed to make of, 'We hope the issue has been resolved?' What does this mean? That somebody will give me my son back?"
The June 19 letter from White House aide F. Michael Kelleher arrived amid pre-trial hearings of the accused Marines, all of whom have pleaded not guilty to robbing and killing the sergeant and his wife, Quiana, in October 2008.
The White House could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors insist the Pietrzaks were slain for their money, but a homicide investigator has testified the Marines spray-painted racist remarks in the couples' California home.
Polish-born Pietrzak, 24, was white and raised in Bensonhurst. His 26-year-old wife was black. So are the charged Marines.
In her November 2008 letter to Obama, Pietrzak-Varga opened with the words: "Dear President-elect Barack Obama, they killed my son."
Pietrzak-Varga then asked for help in getting to the bottom of the "bestial" murders.
"Death at war at the hands of an enemy is, for a soldier, a patriotic honor," she wrote in Polish. "The death of a soldier in his country and at the hands of his own soldiers ... is a source of endless suffering for his family."
Pietrzak-Varga went on to write that "My son's wife was raped in a bestial way, most likely as my son looked on helplessly."
"Why did this happen? What motivated them? What was it about my son and daughter-in-law that inspired such hatred and loathing?"
In his five-paragraph reply, Kelleher apologized for the delay in getting back to her and urged the Brooklyn mom to send an "updated description of your issue" if "you still need help with a Federal agency."
Kelleher also provided a Web address.
--submitted by Patti Woodard
No comments:
Post a Comment