Photo of Vargas taken by McNeill on a two-week fishing trip to Oregon when the abuse began.
McNeill's wife does not support the sentence, nor does the man's son. Since Vargas killed McNeill, it has come out that McNeill, who was a Boy Scout leader and a Big Brother volunteer, had molested many boys, including his own stepson. He turned his own children's friends into victims. One man committed suicide after breaking down and confessing what had happened to him. One of McNeill's ex-wives went to the police and told them about what happened to her son. She was told the case was too old. McNeill continued to harass Vargas until his death.
""I know that many people could have prevented this over 100 years ago,” reads one comment on the Save Aaron petition that was signed, simply, “Darrell McNeill's Daughter.” “How many of you knew, and did nothing,” the comment continues. “I will never believe that for so many years this was happening and it now all falls on Aaron. I am a survivor of my grandfather's sexual assault, the same man that molested Darrell. His father loved him in a very sick way, he loved all his children in a very sick way. You learn right from wrong from your parents, with what I know Darrell didn't have a chance. Aaron does, don't let him go to prison.”
Read more about the case here.
Vargas's sister Mindy has set up a Web site for her brother.
This case reminds me of the boy who had the good luck to under 18 when he shot his abuser.