He murdered his girlfriend and killed himself. His heart's journey was extraordinary.

By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post·
54 mins to read
He murdered his girlfriend and killed himself. His heart's journey was extraordinary.
Mark Willey shot his girlfriend Karen Ermert before turning the gun on himself. His heart would go on to save the life of a young single mother of two. Photo / Washington Post

By Gene Weingarten

I stared disconsolately at three crumpled slips of loose-leaf paper. Separately, they had been drawn out of an old green fedora by three strangers in a restaurant, and together they created an ordinary day chosen at random: "December," "28" and "1986." That was the date I was

Save