Missing Model's Birthday Energizes Search
Aaron Vargas is Looking at Life for Killing Serial Pedophile Darrell McNeill
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 3:07 pm
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No one disputes what happened next. The two men began arguing. Then Vargas shot McNeill.
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| At least three men say McNeill raped them as children, then began stalking them before he was murdered |
Vargas would later admit to the shooting, contending McNeill had stalked him after years of sexual abuse. In most cases, this would have evolved into a court drama involving the claims of a murderer against a victim who could no longer speak for himself.
Then other men came to Vargas' defense, admitted McNeill had molested them as well.
Carpenter Todd Rowan was among them. "My first thought was, nobody is going to get hurt anymore," he told News 10. "I felt for Aaron."
Jamie Massingale committed suicide only days after he'd confessed to being abused by McNeill, according to his brother Richard. Before he shot himself, Jamie said McNeill was harassing him, and he didn't know how to handle it.
But prosecutors contend that matters little. They say Vargas, a father with a fiancee, committed premeditated murder. Vargas is looking at 50 years to life if convicted.
Friend and relatives say Vargas simply broke down after McNeill reappeared in his life and began stalking him.
"I think he mentally broke as a result of being harassed by Darryl," his mother Robin says. "He would not leave him alone. He needs counseling and to be with his fiancee and baby. He doesn't need prison."
Vargas goes on trial next month, but if Mendocino County has it's way, he'll walk when all is said and done. Residents have held protests and launched a letter-writing campaign, urging that he be set free. (See the Save Aaron site here.)Tags: California
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