Murder victim's ex-fiance wishes Thanksgiving 'would go away'
Single mom Elise Crawford never expected she'd fall in love on the bus.
"(He) had the most happiest eyes," she said.
Metro driver Mark McLaughlin proposed on the bus.
"Just the most beautiful ring you ever saw," said Crawford.
Thanksgiving week, just months before their wedding, McLaughlin was murdered on the bus when a passenger shot him. The bus ripped through a 25-foot section of the rail and flew off the Aurora Bridge.
Before journaling her grief, Crawford spent years suffering in silence.
"And hid from everyone, because I believed he was coming home and we were going to be together again," she said.
Eleven years later, Crawford still won't celebrate Thanksgiving.
"It's just reminding me about the most horrible day in my life. And I wish it would go away," she said.
McLaughlin struggled to push his attacker away from the steering wheel. Seattle honored his heroism with a caravan of buses through the city center. Today, his fiance is honoring his memory with a memoir that she hopes will help others who are paralyzed by pain.
"And that's the message I want to convey: not give up and move forward," said Crawford.
McLaughlin made a promise to his fiance before his bus flew off this bridge -- to always care for her and her kids. And she says he's keeping that promise to this day.
"His presence is still with me," she said.
Crawford has found love again, but keeps a bin filled with reminders of her relationship with McLaughlin. Among the items is a pressed flower -- the last one he ever gave her during their relationship that began and ended on the bus.
Crawford is now trying to save enough money to advertise her book, A Promise Kept, on the side of Metro buses.