ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Mike Ellerbrock, Catholic deacon, is blunt.
"I'm not going to try to make good news out of it," he said.
On Monday, Ellerbrock will speak in memory of Alexander DeFilippis, the Virginia Tech student who was brutally slain in early December.
DeFilippis, a 22-year-old junior at Tech, was abducted from a local convenience store, then driven out into the country and shot just as the university community commenced exam week. Three men have been charged in the crimes.
"How can there be such evil, to just slaughter a person in that way?" Ellerbrock asked.
Also an economics professor at Tech, Ellerbrock taught DeFilippis for two semesters. The last time he saw his student was the morning before the slaying. The following Monday, DeFilippis' economics classmates took their final exam. Ellerbrock says he put a teddy bear in Alex's seat in memorial, and the entire class signed a card for the bereaved family.
When he speaks on Monday, Ellerbrock says he will look to the lessons of Jesus to try to make sense of the murder.
Recalling the quiet young man with a beautiful smile, Ellerbrock says DeFilippis was just coming into his own as a student.
"First semester last spring, he always would hang around after class and ask me a good question about what we'd talked about," Ellerbrock said. "I fussed at him to speak up in class, and let his peers hear."
The memorial service starts at 7 p.m. in the War Memorial Chapel. Ellerbrock and the Rev. Paul Cowles will officiate.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB