Shocking news about an old co-worker

I just received the following email from an old co-worker:

I just wanted to say hello. I don’t know if you remember Randy Patridge that worked with me in Practice Management after you left and went to DC. Randy committed suicide on Halloween night after killing his partner after a bad break up.

I immediately turned to Google to see if I could learn more about this tragedy. The news article I found on the Washington Post left me more shaken than before.

Granted, I didn't know him all that well nor all that long, but the Randy I knew would never have done this. He was a sweet guy, tall, kind of cute in a "sadly playing for the same team" kind of way... very open about his sexuality, with a ready smile and happy shoot the breeze or the latest gossip in the halls of the Academy with the best of them. When I left the Academy, I never really gave him a second thought. Until today.

What really (made me.... mad? sad? angry?) got to me about this news article was that it was focused primarily on the death of the boyfriend. How HE was such a great guy, and how HE was hard working, just trying to make a living. Not a word about Randy. And while I know it's natural to vilify the murderer in cases like these, reading it from "Randy's side" made it hard to believe that noone had a kind word to say about him.

RIP, Randy.