Ariel wrote to her parents' killer because she wanted to 'put a face to the name', in his response the murderer told he her 'cares' about her and has 'nothing but good intent'
A TikToker has gone viral after posting a video of her reading a letter from the person who murdered her parents.
Ariel, 28, from Southern Virginia, posted the video on her TikTok account, Opencasketgood, which has a relatively small following of just under 12,000 people. However, the video, in which she reads a letter addressed to her from the man who killed her parents, now has over 3 million views.
“My parents’ murderer wrote me back. I’ve been waiting almost 30 years for this moment,” she captioned the video. "I am overcome with emotion.” In the video, she is seen excitedly opening the letter before beginning to read aloud the words of the convicted killer, who was known to the family through marriage.
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The letter read: “Dear Ariel, It was really good to hear from you, I hope you and the family are doing good, thank you for the opportunity to write. I have been praying that somehow God would comfort you in a way only he could do. You wrote an excellent letter and when I finished reading it I said out loud ‘my God’.
“I want you to know I care about you and am willing to help you in any way I can. I have wanted to write but did not want to offend you so I had to let you break the ice, so to speak. In my opinion, you are not wrong. This is what I have been hoping for.”
The killer also congratulated Ariel on her achievements, including having children. He added that he recently sent a letter to his grandson for completing high school.
Surprisingly the convicted man said he was open to further communication including further letters, a phone call or a video call session. “I wouldn’t have the heart to deny you a video visit and I have never done one but I must admit I would be as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof," he said.
“I am glad you wrote, I have nothing but good intent, Dean.” Ariel then turned to the camera seemingly stunned to silence before holding her face in her hands as she broke down in tears.
In another video, The 28-year-old said she wrote to her parents' killer because she wanted to "put a face to the name." "That's something I've always wanted to do," she said. "Because I don't know what he looks like."
"My siblings grew up knowing him. I didn't," she explained. "A lot of lies have been said about him throughout my childhood that have been very negative. I'm the type of person, I want to form my own opinions so that's why I wanted to get to know him, so I can make my own assumptions off of what I know, and not what I have been told.
"And I think he's pretty much ok," she said. In a later video, the TikToker shared a photo of her parents on their wedding day. "So these are my parents. My mother's name is Barbara, my father's name is Joe," she said.
"This is my favourite picture of them. They were a gorgeous couple," she continued, adding that her mother was a "cougar." "She was ten years older than my father. She was in her 40s when she had me. He was in his early 40s.
"I think I look my dad," she went on to say. "Other people think I look like my mother. But these are the two beautiful people that birthed me." According to her TikTok account, Ariel works as a mortician. In a previous video she said she entered the profession to "help families say goodbye since I didn't get to."
"It's my way to honour you." According to Ariel, the murderer, who she described as an uncle, shot and killed his wife before fatally shooting his parents. He was sentenced to 20 years for the murder of his wife and handed two life sentences for the murders of her parents.
