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Slain witnesses' mothers remember

Javier Erik Olvera, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 17, 2006 at midnight

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AURORA - A year has passed, but their pain remains fresh.

It creeps in everywhere - driving around town, walking into their homes, seeing their children's photos.

But mostly, Rhonda Fields and Christine Wolfe feel it when they come face to face with the three men accused of killing their children.

The two - introduced by their children's love and bound together by their deaths - are holding a memorial Tuesday to mark the first-year anniversary of their death.

"I'm learning to deal with the pain, but it's something you can never forget," said Fields, an airport operations trainer for United Airlines.

Her son, Javad Marshall Fields, and Wolfe's daughter, Vivian Wolfe, were shot to death on June 20, 2005 - a week before he was set to take the stand as the key witness in a murder trial.

Both were 22, recent college graduates and engaged to be married.

The memorial is intended to celebrate Marshall Fields' willingness to testify and to raise awareness about protecting witnesses.

"It's taken a year to understand his courageousness," said Fields. "It's given me great insight into the character of my son, and it makes me very proud of him."

"We want people to remember our children," said Wolfe, who co-owns a boating and rafting equipment business with her husband, Mike. "We don't want people to forget their names."

An Arapahoe County grand jury indicted Robert Ray, 20, Sir Mario Owens, 21, and Parish Carter, 24, three months ago on charges they killed the couple to stop a murder trial.

Marshall Fields was considered the prime witness in the trial against Ray, an alleged gunman in a July 4, 2004 shooting at Lowry Park that left Gregory Vann, 20, dead.

Marshall Fields was injured in that shooting, and according to his mother, worked with Aurora police during the investigation that led to charges against Ray and Owens.

Investigators say the tension leading up to the trial culminated in a hail of more than a dozen bullets that killed Marshall Fields and Wolfe inside a car along South Dayton Street in Aurora.

Ray's trial in the 2004 shooting is scheduled for October, said Arapahoe County Chief Deputy District Attorney John Hower.

Owens is set for a preliminary hearing in that case on July 5. The three men will be arraigned on July 24 on charges stemming from the 2005 double homicide.

Since the deaths, both mothers - who often sit side-by-side at court hearings - have pushed for reforms in the witness protection program.

Memorial

• A memorial celebration for Vivian Wolfe and Javad Marshall Fields will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Aurora Municipal Center, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.