The relatives of the Cleveland granddad whose execution was posted on Facebook said they’ve forgiven his killer.
“Each one of us forgives the killer, the murderer,” 74-year-old victim Robert Godwin’s daughter Tonya Godwin-Baines told CNN affiliate Fox 8 Cleveland. “We want to wrap our arms around him.”
“I forgive you and love you but most importantly, God loves you. God can heal your mind and save your soul. Please!” Godwin-Baines said, less than a day before Steve Stephens shot himself as cops were closing in.
Another child, Robert Godwin Jr., said Monday night: “Steve, I forgive you … I’m not happy [with] what you did but I forgive you.”
He said the woman whom Stephens blamed in the sick video for his depraved act is in the family’s prayers.
“We know it is not her fault. She should not feel like it’s her fault,” Godwin told Fox 8 about Joy Lane, Stephens’ girlfriend.
The distraught family members said the video made their nightmare even worse.
“The man who videotaped him getting shot stripped him of his dignity,” Godwin told CNN. “And to post it online for the whole world to see, I’m just angry.”
Another daughter, Naujia Goodwin, said she was shocked to receive calls from people who saw the crime online.
“Somebody near to you and dear to you,” she said. “And it’s broadcast. Everyone was calling me, texting me. ‘Did you see that video?’” she said.
“Why did you put it online? Why would you do that to my dad?” she said, addressing the killer.
A third daughter, Debbie Godwin, told ABC News she didn’t watch the footage “because I didn’t want that to be the last remembrance of my father.”
“He didn’t deserve to just be picked out randomly,” she said. “And then to add insult to injury you tape it while my father is begging for his life.”