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04-07-17
Good afternoon, Your Honor
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. I am Marti Kohnke, the mother of
Kris Kirk who was killed by her husband on April 14th, 2014.
My husband, Wayne, and I lived a normal life centered on our family. We had three
children, Marc, Tammy and Kris. Kris was not a public person; her death will go
unnoticed by the world, just another wife and mother murdered by her husband.
Yet I need to shout from the rooftops.this was my daughter, this was a mother.
She was loved and cherished. She was amazing!!!! She was vibrant and alive; her
life was meaningful; she had so much to live for, to give. Her death has left a
vacuum in the universe!
Losing my child to murder is an agony so consuming, so dark that it affects every
fiber of my being. The pain is excruciating and raw, it gnaws and chews at me until
I lock myself in the bathroom, stuff a towel in my mouth and scream and cry until
exhaustion overcomes me. Coping with the loss of my daughter is ultimately a
deeply personal and singular experience.no one can absorb my pain. My grief is
a brutal lifelong sentence; there is no haven.
From the first breath my daughter took I worried and prayed she would be safe and
have a happy life. She was my flesh and blood, my youngest, my baby. Her joy
was my joy, her dreams were my dreams, her pain my pain. Her death was my
death. On April 14th, 2014 life as I knew it ended.

Kris was in such a hurry to be born, I barely made it to the hospital before I heard
her first cry. Maybe she knew, as I did not, that her life would be short.
From her first day Kris was sparkling and vibrant. She was an energetic child, full
of life, love, laughter and always on the go. She was creative and practical and
very resourceful.

I remember an incident from her 4th grade. A boy in her class taunted her every
day insisting she was not a girl, that Kris was a boy. This annoyed her until one day
she came bounding into the house with a broad grin on her face and excitedly
cried: Mom! I finally made Michael believe I am a girl! A little nervously I asked
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How did you do that? Proudly she said: I took him outside and showed him my
bike!

Kris was an achiever. She always pushed herself to do better. Yet she was very
humble, always thinking of others. She excelled in school, she had many friends,
Everyone loved and admired Kris. She was a loyal and compassionate friend.
When she walked into a room it was suddenly brighter. Her personality shined
bright, her smile dazzled. People were drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She
was the heart of our family.
I miss my daughter so much. She was my best friend. Our love was limitless. We
talked on the phone every day and spent time together frequently. We spoke about
everything and shared everything. I miss the times we spent together.our mother
daughter outings, and our all girl weekends with her sister Tammy. The three of
us would go up to our condo in Keystone and watch girlie movies, eat junk food
and share our life joys and challenges. Just before Kris died she and Tammy were
planning a big surprise for my 70th birthday. They arranged for all my family and
friends to fly in for a long weekend of celebrating. Instead, they all came in shock
and grieving to say goodbye to Kris.
Kris one desire was to be a mother. She dreamed of having sons. And so it was.
She gave birth to three little boys whom she adored. Her boys were her life. No
mother loved her children more. She wanted the best for them and worked
tirelessly to provide a loving and wonderful childhood. She spent every possible
minute with her boys setting strong values, teaching them, playing with them.
Often she would come home from work and the boys would have her jumping on
the tramp before she could get her work clothes off. No matter how tired she was
her children came first. Education was important and she oversaw their homework
every evening. She believed in parenting by example. The boys recognized her
strength and moral fiber and adored her. She was their hero.

Kris life was not easy. She worked full time, made a wonderful home for her boys,
rushed between doctor or dentist appointments, school functions, soccer,
basketball, hockey practices and games. Grocery shopping, cooking, laundry and
homework were constants. She did all this efficiently and happily. The boys were
her life. She was an amazing mother who instilled a solid foundation for her sons.
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On the night of my beloved daughters murder I slept, thinking all was well in my
world. Far away my daughter was dealing with a crisis and I wasnt there. I had
always been there for her. Every time she needed advice, or help I was there. But
on the evening she needed me most I wasnt close, I could not save her. For the
rest of my life I will feel the guilt of this.
What I did not know was that all I knew and treasured in my life was gone forever
and my three terrified grandsons were sitting in a cold police station frightened and
alone. My husband and I were awakened at midnight by our local police banging
on our door in Keystone, Colorado were we lived. We were told to go to the
downtown Denver police station to pick up our grandsons. There had been an
incident they said. We did not know what the incident was. We drove 2 hours in a
spring snow storm to reach the boys.
Once in the police station we were taken into a room and told our daughter was
dead. How can I describe our reaction, our shock and disbelief? Before we could
fully absorb the devastating news, the boys were brought into the room, one at a
time and we had to tell them the mother they adored was dead. We huddled
together as the tears flowed and our bodies shook with sobs. We realized the
boys were barefoot and only in their underwear. They had been prepared for bed.
The police gave us blankets for the boys and we drove another two hours on icy
roads to get back to our condo in the early hours of the next day. Sleep was
impossible, the children had questions; we had no answers. How could we explain
what we did not understand?
From the first our priority was the welfare of the children.
The next morning we had to go buy clothing and food for the boys. They had
nothing. They lost both parents, their phones were confiscated, their belongings
were gone, their home was a crime scene, we could not enter or retrieve anything.
Our daughters death destroyed everything we knew. We not only lost our
daughter, we lost our home, our way of life, our friends, our health and my
husband and I lost each other. Empty nesters for 20 years we suddenly found
ourselves swept up by a tsunami having to start all over. We entered our condo
with the 3 boys and immediately started triage.
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Our pressing tasks and needs tested us to the limits of sanity. Immediately we
were faced with media requests, coroners, funeral directors, detectives, victims
advocates, district attorneys, social security, therapists, probate, guardianship and
lawyers. We met hundreds of people. We had to separate voyeurs from Kris
friends and co-workers, teachers, coaches, friends and parents of friends. All this
while helping three little boys cope with their grief. We had no time to grieve. The
boys had to return to school. We needed a home.
It took three long months to find a suitable home we could afford. We had no
furniture. After years of downsizing for retirement we had to furnish a home for the
boys. Their home went through probate and everything had to be sold with 50% of
the proceeds going to the man who killed my daughter. Our retirement savings
went to consignment stores and Craigs list.
I was dazed and overwhelmed. I could not concentrate. I was once very efficient. I
managed numerous corporate departments, I did public speaking, I juggled a
career and raised three children. Now I could not put a sentence together, I could
not think. The children were my only focus. Thank God for our daughter Tammy.
Always a very detailed person, she took copious notes and took over
communication and handling the media. She arranged the meetings we had to
have and coached me on peoples names, etc.
We lost our friends. As they go to the theatre, we are helping with homework,
dealing with a sick child, attending school plays. Our schedule is packed with the
boys activities. We no longer have anything in common with the friends we had.
I lost the husband I knew. Wayne and I have no time for us. We are two ships in
the night. He is chauffeuring the kids to school, sports practices or play dates,
working on reports for the courts, dealing with attorneys, fixing things around the
house. I am cleaning the house, doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking dinner.
Homework is important. Keeping up with notices from school and parents of their
friends is time consuming. By the time evening comes we are exhausted.
But bedtime arrives and darkness sets in. There are nightmares and tears. The
boys need to be comforted. There is no comfort. We cannot give them the only
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thing they want.their beloved mother back. The emotional and physical harm
this has done to our family is devastating and inconsolable.
We worry about putting our boys through college. They work so hard to make their
mother proud. All three have accelerated classes. Ethan got a 4 point as a high
school freshman last year and has all As so far this year. The other two boys excel
in elementary and middle school. They have shown immense courage and we are
humbled.
We did not get to say goodbye to our daughter. The bullet from the gun he held to
her temple disfigured her beautiful face so much we did not recognize the woman
in the coffin. The boys asked if this was really their mom. We had to close the
coffin.

We sat through the funeral in a stupor of grief. Andrew lay on my lap and sobbed
throughout the service. The older boys sat stoically, not moving. The church was
filled to standing room only. Over 400 people walked past Kris coffin single file,
each touching her coffin, many sobbing . It was a tribute to how much she was
loved, how much she would be missed.
And so my daughter is gone forever. I will never again see her brilliant smile, hear
her voice, feel the warmth of her hug.
There is so much I cannot say here, your Honor. Someday the boys may read this
and I have to take that into consideration, however, the consequences of this brutal
act will continue long after this hearing.
I can never replace the boys mother and every day I will ask myself What would
Kris have done and think If only Kris could see this.
Your honor, this has been just a brief summary of the past three tragic years. We
live it day by day, minute by minute. There is no penalty that can be imposed to
pay for this crime. However, I respectfully ask that you rule the 30 years.
Thank you.