Mark Becker sentenced to life in prison, Thomas family speaks

Jan Thomas said Wednesday she asked “why, why and more whys” of how her husband Ed who had never been in fist fight ends up dead from a gunshot.

“How can someone gun down a man that only ever wanted to help young people grow into the best men and women they can be, the best community member, the best employees, the best spouses and parents they could be - be shot so brutally by one of those young people for whom he had only wanted the best.”

Jan Thomas almost made it through her emotional victim's impact statement before letting tears flow. She, her two sons and other family members gave statements before the judge sentenced Mark Becker, 24, to life in prison without parole for the murder of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas June 24. Becker was convicted last month. He claimed insanity as his defense.

Becker smiled at his family when he came into the Butler County District courtroom but there was no smile when he left. Each Thomas family member looked in his eyes as they gave their, sometimes bitter and angry, statements to him for about 45 minutes. He seemed to listen but showed no emotion.

Jan Thomas' voice got shaky as she started talking about Ed being well known and his legacy but he was just “Ed to me.”

“I have lost my life partner, the guy who walked with me on Sunday afternoons, or would go on short walks that wound up at the ice cream place.”

At the end, she said she might be able to forgive Becker but she can't excuse his actions because as Ed believed, everybody makes their own choices, have the power to choose but every person has to be accountable for those choices.

Her sons, Todd and Aaron also talked about making choices but their statements were more bitter and angry towards Becker.

Todd Thomas said as he reflected on his dad's brutal murder, it has been difficult to put all of his feelings into words. He's had times of great happiness thinking of all the wonderful memories but those are mixed with feelings of hatred and sadness.

“I also have felt very sympathetic for the community, the families, especially your brother Scott, and all the kinds that witnessed this horrific crime,” Todd Thomas said.

He said the irony is that the one person Becker wanted to hurt is doing better than “all of us.” He knows his father is in heaven and “having the time of his life.”

The main lesson, a constant, he learned from his father is the gift to choose.

“And as we make these choices, we need to be prepared for the consequences that may follow,” Todd Thomas said. “Dad has been preaching this message for as long as I can remember, and I know you Mark, have heard this lesson.”

Todd, as he teared up, told Becker there is nobody to blame for his father's death except him. “No one else grabbed the gun that day. No one else pulled the trigger that day. No one else, like a coward, brutally murdered my father on June 24 in front of over 20 innocent kids. These were all choices that you made.”

Aaron Thomas said he also believes there was a “devil tyrant” in the weightroom that day but it wasn't the coach who worked with young people to become the best they could be.

“The devil tyrant arrived at the weightroom around 7:45 that morning ready to complete his well thought out plan to viciously murder an innocent unarmed man who stood for everything the devil tyrant Mark Becker was not,” Aaron Thomas said looking Becker in the eyes.

Becker refered to Ed Thomas as a devil tyrant during a police interview. Aaron Thomas told Becker it wasn't enough that he shot his father seven times but then stomped on him and cursed him.

“This was the action of not only a coward, but the action of a heartless murderer, who did the work of the devil that day,” Aaron Thomas said.

Aaron Thomas said the toughest part of him is when he looks at his three sons and thinks about their grandpa being taken from them.

“Their sense of safety stripped from them by Mark Becker,” he said. “I would love for Mark Becker to explain to my three sons why he killed their grandpa.”

Aaron Thomas said his son, Owen, cries when he misses his grandfather and is worried when he goes to sleep at night because he doesn't know if if someone will hurt his family or someone will die. “I can't tell him not to be scared or that nothing will happen as he witnessed it, he knows his grandpa was murdered by Mark Becker.”

Ed Thomas' sisters, Teresa Morrison and Susan Reynolds, also read statements about missing their brother and not understanding how someone like him who has been a servant of God was murdered.

Morrison said she wished she had known him better. Her best memory of him was when she was a child and she asked Jan to tell Ed not get her a doll for Christmas, as he always did, so Ed gave her a basketball.

“I am very proud to have found out how Ed impacted so many people's lives in such a good and positive way. I still wonder why Mark had such anger and hatred towards Ed to murder him.”

Reynolds, who lives out of state, so her statement was read by a victim's advocate told Becker he would have to live with this murder for the rest of his life.

“One of my greatest sorrows is that Ed's grandsons will not be able to see their grandfather, learn from his life.”

Her only comfort was knowing someday she would see her brother again in heaven.