TOBYHANNA, Pa. (AP) – The parents of a slain Pennsylvania State Police trooper said Sunday they have forgiven his alleged killer and are relying on their deep faith to get them through the loss.
Appearing at a church in the same Pocono Mountains region where Eric Frein spent 48 days on the run, Bryon and Darla Dickson said forgiveness has helped them move on and avoid becoming bitter.
“It doesn’t do you any good to hate somebody for whatever they have done to you, because all it does is eat you up. And in the end, what does it do for you? Absolutely nothing,” said Bryon Dickson.
Frein, 31, is charged in the Sept. 12 ambush that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and critically injured Trooper Alex Douglass.
The alleged gunman, an anti-government survivalist, led police on a tense, six-week manhunt through the northeastern Pennsylvania woods before U.S. marshals caught him outside an abandoned airplane hangar, about 30 miles from the barracks where authorities say he opened fire during a late-night shift change.