OLATHE, Kan. — Members of the Post family relived their worst nightmare Monday for the fourth time in 38 years.
They testified during a public hearing on whether to grant parole to the man convicted of killing six of their family members.
Their nightmare began on Sept. 20, 1980.
"For me it's hearsay, just stories, because I was only four months old when it happened," Randy Foster said of that day.
Cindy Foster, Randy's aunt by birth and later, adoptive mother, remembers it all too well.
"You think it would be easier, but it's just tougher because you're bringing up stuff that we've learned to live around," Cindy Foster said.
On that day, a package filled with sticks of dynamite exploded in the Post family's home in Olathe. Police said Danny Crump confessed to targeting his ex-wife, Diane Post, with the package. The blast killed her, three of her siblings and their parents.
Diane was Randy's birth mother. He, too, was inside the house when the bomb went off and was thrown into a neighbor's yard.
Randy's birth father, Danny Crump, was convicted and put behind bars for six life sentences. This year he's up for parole for the fourth time.
Danny Crump
On Monday, members of the Post family asked a Kansas Prisoner Review Board to keep Crump in prison.
"It just parachutes me right out of my happy world and back to that day," Cindy Foster said of the process.
A detective who worked the case back in 1980 told the board Crump should remain in prison.
"I believe he would endanger a number of people who have testified against him in court actions, and who are here today to hopefully get his incarceration extended for another 10 years," the detective said.
41 Action News was there the last time the family appeared for a parole hearing in 2008. Wearing shirts that read "Justice for Six," they talked about the impact Crump's actions had on their lives.
Monday, no one spoke in Crump's favor, but 10 years ago, members of Crump's family, including his daughter, called for his release.
"I just got that funny feeling that he didn't do it," Diane Crump said at the time.
The Post family hopes the board will again decide to keep Danny Crump in prison.
"I hope that they pass him another ten years, the maximum sentence they can do," Randy Foster said.
On Monday morning the board heard public comments, but the full parole hearing and decision won't come until late August or early September after the board interviews Crump. Those supporting and opposing his release can submit public comments to the Kansas Prisoner Review Board up until then.
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