25 years and 3 trials later, a widower recalls slain family amid boxes of fading photos

25 years later, widower recalls slain family

SPRING LAKE, N.C. — Gary Eastburn has lived with painful memories in the 25 years since his wife and two of this daughters were stabbed to death in North Carolina.

The man accused of killing them was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1986, but then was acquitted in a 1989 retrial. Eastburn thought that was the end of the story.

But a new trial this year brought a different ending. The suspect, retired Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis, was recalled to active duty and given an Army court martial at Fort Bragg. On April 15, he was sentenced to death.

Eastburn says he doesn’t dwell on the gory crime scene photos that were displayed at the trial, but on the happy family pictures that also were shown to the jury. And now he can put them away.