Seven months prior to his death, sixteen year old John Tomlin met his girlfriend, Michelle Oetter, at a church youth group. Michelle was a student at Ponderosa High School, and the two were planning to attend her prom together on Saturday, May 1st. For the occasion, John had told Michelle that he would go with her: “but I had to teach him how to dance first,” she said.
At the time, Michelle was just seventeen years old. Of her late boyfriend, she had recalled, “He treated me like the queen of the world. He spent so much money trotting back and forth to my house, but he always said I was worth it.”
According to Michelle, the last seven months of John's life were his happiest, as he felt lonely when he had first moved to the Littleton area.
During his April 23rd memorial service at the Foothils Bible Church, Michelle had stated, “I don’t think there are enough words to tell you how much John meant to me. The biggest impact John had on me was how much he cared about me, how he would do anything to make me smile and make me happy.”













