On another site had commented on a post in which the topic was death, and gave a brief list of some friends who I went to school with who have died since. There were others, but the following impacted my life the most.

Sgt Ashly Moyer, age 21, killed in action in 2007 in the Iraq War. A friend, and the first girl I can remember having a crush on in second grade.

Kevin Kleppinger, age 15, murdered- gunshot to the head. A friend.

Jake Diehl (also a friend of Kleppinger), age 33, died of a drug overdose. A friend.

Matt Kush, age 16, killed in a car accident. A friend. He was killed along with another 16 year old named Tom Gray, but I didn't know Gray though. The 18 year old driver survived the crash.

Andrew Butler, age 15, brain cancer. A friend.

Joshua Rau, age 20, killed in a snowmobile accident. A friend.

Deanna Christman, age 28, cannot remember cause of death. A former girlfriend.

Michael Sanford, age 18, suicide by hanging. A friend.

Amanda Faidley, age 33, cancer. The first girlfriend that was more than a mere crush.

Zachary Klingaman, age 27, suicide. Was friends with him in seventh grade, but parted ways later on once he got involved with troublemaker kids.

Steven Gaffney, age 29, suicide. High school friend. In all honesty, he always had some serious emotional issues. A few years prior to his suicide he had exposed himself to a female worker at a convenience store. We were hostile towards each other in elementary and junior high school.

Every one of those individuals had impacted my life for the better in some way. Moyer and Diehl's deaths in particular hit me hard, and Kleppinger's murder was shocking being I lived about a block or so away from the hotel/saloon where he was murdered.

@SpikeTalon wtf , just wtf

I do not, I was working at Stroh`s at that time and hanging out in Emmaus after work I don't remember anyone talking about that murder. I will have to ask Matt Bartels and Joe Sperduti about that one.

@azzow2 I got a few minor details incorrect. It wasn't a revolver that was used, it was a .45 handgun. Kevin's older sister was present too, which I forgot to mention her. Catherine Young was Kevin's girlfriend at the time, and even at that time I had known and was friends with Cat. She used to hangout at the ballfield during my time in little league baseball, mingling with all of us boys, lol. Got Gambler's age a bit wrong too, he was 24 at the time but must have been 25 by the time of his trial, and think that's what threw me off on that much. Lastly, had forgotten that somehow Gambler made it as far as Kutztown before he was apprehended by police. I do recall the police circling around the area in a helicopter.

Here was the story carried by the Morning Call shortly after the incident- [mcall.com]

SUSPECT IS ARRESTED IN EMMAUS SLAYING BOY, 15, WAS SHOT TO DEATH AT A BEER PARTY THURSDAY NIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS HORRIFIED SISTER.

As his sister and three friends looked on in horror, 15-year-old Kevin Scott Kleppinger was shot to death about 11 p.m. Thursday at a beer party in Room 7 above the former Broad Street Saloon in Emmaus.

Kleppinger was shot, point-blank, in the front of the head with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, state police said at a news conference Friday morning in Bethlehem.

Police said Michael Adam Gambler, 24, also known as Mike Gambino, was arrested Friday night in Kutztown and charged with firing the deadly shot. Gambler, in whose room the slaying occurred, fled the scene and apparently took the murder weapon with him, police said.

An affidavit of probable cause, filed with District Justice Charles Crawford, said four eyewitnesses agreed that Gambler took a handgun from a cabinet in Room 7, pointed it at Kleppinger and pulled the trigger.

"They observed the victim lying on the floor in a pool of blood," the affidavit said.

The witnesses in Room 7 were Varec; Alicia Kleppinger, 16; Catherine L. Young, 17, of Emmaus; and Christopher Miller, 19, who lives above the former Broad Street Saloon, now known as Taverna Verde.

Varec characterized the victim as "a really good kid, real innocent."

"He was like a little brother to me," said Varec.

Kevin Kleppinger, Varec said, did not know Gambler well. They had only met once before.

Alicia Kleppinger, who met Gambler Thursday for the first time, said they were introduced by a friend who lives down the hall.

Police gave no indication of what prompted the shooting and were reluctant to characterize the gathering as a party.

But Gambler was seen carrying a six-pack of beer into the building before the shooting.

"A half-hour later, I heard the shot," said a 42-year-old man who requested anonymity.

Brenda Nosal, the tavern's bartender, is listed in the affidavit as having seen Gambler flee on foot after the shooting. She could not be reached for comment.

Friends of the victim and the suspect characterized Room 7 as a 'party hangout' where it was not unusual for younger teens to gather. Since Gambler moved in about a year ago, they said, there have been parties, fist fights and loud music blaring from the second-floor room of the Victorian tavern at the corner of Broad and Fifth.

An autopsy performed Friday determined that Kleppinger had died from a gunshot to the head. Grim ruled the death a homicide.

@SpikeTalon I have no idea how I missed all of that, I use to hang out at that bar and I lived in the apartment on Jubilee Street. I must have either been working overtime or have been at the VFW or the Mercantile club when that went down that night.