By Rachel Belle

Listen to Keep John Nicholas Athan In Prison!

Seven years. It doesn’t seem like a very long time to be in prison when you’ve raped and murdered a young girl. Well, that’s all the time it seems John Nicholas Athan will serve.

He raped and strangled Kristen Sumstad to death in 1982, when she was 13 and he was just 14. It took 21 years, and tricking him into licking an envelope for a DNA sample, to get him into jail and now his release date has been announced: June 6th. Less than a month from today.

Sean Fay grew up in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood along with Kristen and John.

“Kristen was my girlfriend. I mean, it was very innocent, in 4th and 6th grade. I used to walk her home from school. She’s a very dear friend of mine and I just adored her. I thought she was great. [when she died] It was like the death of innocence for me. I was in 8th grade and I was in shock. It was horrible, I mean, it was completely devastating. A lot of us in school struggled that it could happen to somebody, especially somebody as sweet and kind as Kristen.””

Sean has has been sending letters to Governor Gregoire, trying to convince her to appeal this release. I spoke with the Governor’s office today and they say they’ve received about 80 emails and calls from people, along with six boxes of Lemonheads – Kristen’s favorite candy.

“The whole thing just doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I don’t know how they added up that this guy brutally murdered Kristen and they somehow found that he is deemed to be released way ahead of his sentence. It’s only been seven years and he’s serving less time than someone who’s put in prison for dealing pot. It just makes no sense.”

The Governor is reviewing the case but her spokesperson, Karina Shagren, continues to point out that it is incredibly rare for a governor to intervene in an Indeterminate Sentence Review Board decision. It’s actually only been done twice and the last time was actually back in December, when Governor Gregoire blocked the release of a cop killer in Richland who also struck back in 1982.

Sean Fay thinks the governor needs to use her power to do the same for Kristen’s killer.

“He’s a threat to society, and anyone capable to do something that horrible…it’s terrifying. Especially since I have three children, a 10, 11 and 12 year old, and Kristen was 13. It’s scary.”

There’s still time to push for this. You can continue to send your emails, letters and boxes of Lemonheads to Governor Gregoire and convince her to keep John Nicholas Athan in jail.