Oregon Shooter's Sister Speaks On Coping With Killings' Aftermath

EUGENE, Ore. - Nearly one year after she lost her parents, the sister of accused gunman Kip Kinkel said she has also lost her "idea of what is supposed to happen to good people."

Kristen Kinkel, whose parents Bill and Faith Kinkel were gunned down at their Springfield-area home on May 20, 1998, is out of the state this week. But she said Monday she will not return to Oregon to observe the anniversary of their deaths or the shootings at Thurston High School the following day.

Her 16-year-old brother, Kip Kinkel, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in connection with the killings of their parents and of Thurston students Mikael Nickolauson and Ben Walker. He is in the Lane County Jail, awaiting trial this fall.

Kristin Kinkel, 22, has been working in Hawaii this month as a cheerleading coach and adviser, said her attorney, Donald Loomis of Eugene.

She was living in Hawaii when her parents were killed but returned to Oregon afterward and has been living off and on in her parents' home. When in the area, she visits her brother in jail.

"Not a day has gone by that I have not thought of the other victims and their families, and share their sorrow, their pain, their grief and their loss," Kristen Kinkel said in a statement released Monday, just days before the anniversary of the killings.

"This May has been almost as difficult as last May, but I believe every spring will get a little bit easier," she said. "The pain caused from losing my family, my reality and my idea of what is supposed to happen to good people is greater than I ever could have imagined."

In the statement, Kinkel also said she misses her parents and sometimes finds it hard to stay positive and forgive.

"It is important to continue to heal and to grow together as a community," she said. "To do this we must turn the horror of last May into something helpful. Our feelings must be turned into positive energy to continue the healing."