(Editor's note: We recommend you listen to the story before reading.) It was December when Rick Tholen was killed. He was working at M&J Grocery in Grand Rapids. He’d just graduated college and was in his first year of teaching high school English. And he’d decided to take some shifts over Christmas break for extra cash. He was getting married soon. It was around 10 p.m. The store was empty except for Rick. That’s when Chester Patterson and his co-defendant arrived; Chester had a gun. “It was a .22 caliber,” says Chester. Chester told Rick to give him the money in the till. Rick handed him the money. Chester told him to get on the ground. Rick did that. Then Chester shot him in the head. Rick was 22. It was four days before Christmas. “I remember sitting there staring at the tree thinking well maybe we should remove his presents from under the tree,” says Dan Tholen, Rick’s younger brother. Dan did remove the presents “so my mom wouldn’t have to.” Remembering their brother Dan
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