It was a crime that shocked Calgarians 25 years ago: the murder of a Calgary doctor in his own home.
On Sept. 16, 1992, a burglar climbed through the window of Dr. Geoffrey Cragg’s home. Once inside, a deadly confrontation ensued.
“I woke up to my mother screaming….she was yelling at me to call 911,” Cragg’s daughter, Carys Cragg, recalled in an interview with Global News on Tuesday.
She said she can still remember the terror of that night. She was just 11 years old at the time.
“I had seen all of the blood spattered all over my carpet floors and walls. I knew my dad was hurt, and I knew there was blood everywhere. I could smell it… everyone was screaming,” she said.
“I was just so lost,” Cragg explained.
She said her father was a joyful man. His death left a huge hole in her life.
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As the years went on, Cragg realized she wasn’t content to just know the facts as they came out in court. She needed to know more.
With the help of restorative justice, she began writing to her father’s killer, Sheldon Klatt.
“So why would I want to build rapport with the man who murdered my father,” reads an excerpt from one of her letters to Klatt. “Because you altered my life so dramatically, so completely and entirely that I need to know you.”
Klatt, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the case, responded from prison. In total, 15 letters were exchanged.
“There is nothing I can do to change what happened that night,” reads an excerpt of one of Klatt’s letters to Cragg.
“Hopefully I can honour his life by making the most out of mine.”
Cragg has now detailed her journey in a book in an effort to find peace.
In the process, she’s provided some peace for the killer as well.
“I really hope that he just lives a good life,” she said. “He ruined his own life, he ruined my family’s life and I wanted him to live something different.”
LISTEN: Carys Cragg talks to Andrew Lawton about her experience confronting the man who murdered her father
READ MORE: Man who killed Calgary doctor in 1992 eligible for full parole
On the 25th anniversary of the killing, Klatt was released on full parole.
Cragg will be holding an official book launch for Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet The Man Who Murdered My Father in Calgary on Nov. 1 at Shelf Life Books.
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