A Marine’s Story Told by His Family

Jule Bottjer wants you to know about the time her son worked for the Easter Seals telethon and the summer back on Long Island when he gave his afternoons to the local guide dog foundation.

This, she says, was the gentle, caring side to Richard Bottjer that nobody seemed to want to talk about after he died. She says all anyone wanted to hear were the stories about the drunk Marine who died in a fistfight outside a Fullerton bar.

“What makes us mad,” adds her husband, Ralph Bottjer, “is the way they talk about my son being inebriated, and he’s the one who is dead. They talk about the guys who killed him like they’re saints, and it’s my son who is dead.”

Almost two weeks after the death of Staff Sgt. Richard Bottjer, the Marine’s parents and brother gathered at a small Santa Ana cafe to discuss the case and reflect on the 30-year-old career soldier and sports fanatic known to the family as Rick.

Decision on Charges Expected Today

The county district attorney’s office is expected to decide today if anyone will be charged in the April 7 death of Bottjer, who was killed by a strong blow to the head in a fight with two Cal State Fullerton football players. The fight took place in a parking lot across the street from a Fullerton nightclub frequented by off-duty Marines and Cal State students.

A group of prosecutors, investigators and Fullerton police met for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to discuss the case and decided that at least one more witness should be interviewed before a decision could be made.

That witness, a woman who apparently watched the fight from a distance, was questioned by Fullerton police. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown said a decision on charges would come today.

Police indicated earlier that it is possible that no charges will be brought against the football players because evidence indicated that a drunken Bottjer may have started the fight, then actually thrown the first punch. Prosecutors said Bottjer’s blood alcohol level was 2 1/2 times higher than the limit for legal driving when he was admitted to the hospital emergency room.

It has been those descriptions of what happened that have troubled Ralph and Jule Bottjer, who flew to Orange County from their home on Long Island the day after their son’s death. They have remained here since, staying at the Ontario home of the victim’s brother, Robert, and demanding that those responsible for their son’s death be brought to trial.

“We will see to it that justice is done,” Jule Bottjer insisted. “We’re going to see this through, you can bet on that.”

Her husband added: “It just seems to us, from the statements that have been made, that the district attorney’s office here is acting like the defense attorney, not the prosecutors. All kind of things come out in the newspaper about my son, yet he was the victim here. Why haven’t these two other guys been charged?”

Melvin L. Jensen, the deputy district attorney who is handling the case, responded only that he understands “how the family feels by its loss” and added that his office was doing all it could to handle the case objectively.

Problems With Alcohol

Although family members refused to discuss their late son’s drinking--his problems with alcohol were cited as grounds for separation last summer from his wife of four years--they said too little credit and attention had been given to the type of man he was.

Just once, for example, could Ralph or Jule Bottjer recall their son getting into a fight, and that was shortly after Marine boot camp more than 11 years ago. That fight started when Richard complained about another man cursing in front of a woman, they said.

Jule Bottjer also noted with pride that students at Michigan State University at Lansing, where her son worked briefly as a Marine Corps recruiter, were conducting a fund-raising drive in his honor to start a Marine scholarship program in his name.

“One of the girls had been recruited (into the Reserve Officers Training Corps) by Rick,” she said. “She wrote me a letter telling me what they were going to do. They remembered him. Everybody liked him. He didn’t look for trouble.”

After the tour of duty in Michigan, Bottjer was transferred to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station as an aviations specialist in April of last year. He had been at the base early in his Marine career and was glad to get back to California and the opportunities it offered, his family said.

“He looked on it as a good career move,” his brother said.

Planned to Learn to Fly

Bottjer planned to learn how to fly and was toying with the idea of becoming a drill instructor. He had wanted to join the elite Marine embassy guard corps, but the idea of being based overseas and not seeing his son for extended periods made him change his mind.

But Bottjer’s family life had begun to crumble. By the time Bottjer, his wife, Sandra, and 3-year-old son Brent arrived in the county, the marriage was apparently already in trouble.

Last July, Sandra Bottjer filed for divorce, citing her husband’s “severe drinking problem” of the past three years and several instances in which Bottjer either passed out at the wheel of the car or in a bar.

According to court records, she complained that her husband’s drinking had been habitual and dangerous.

Because of this, she said in an affidavit attached to her divorce petition, “I feel that my son’s safety would be jeopardized if I permitted overnight visitation rights.”

In his response, Bottjer denied having a drinking problem. By the time the dispute was mediated, he was granted overnight visitation rights.

Sandra Bottjer, who has since changed her name to Sandra Pearson, has refused to discuss the case with reporters.

Her son, Brent, is still apparently too young to understand what happened to the man who took him skiing, horseback riding and fishing on weekends.

“At the funeral, Brent kept asking when they were going to open the box (casket),” Ralph Bottjer recalled. “He thought it was a game, that something was inside it. He really didn’t understand.”

“When we told him what happened,” added Robert, the brother, “we told Brent that his daddy had been in a lot of pain and that God had decided to take him. He looked at us and asked, ‘Does that mean I don’t have a daddy anymore?’ ”

The last time the brothers saw each other was during the Freeway Series between the Dodgers and Angels on Easter Sunday.

“He was in a good mood, talking about how he was enjoying getting into golf,” Robert said. “He seemed in good spirits. We talked again by phone the day he died.”

At Cal State Fullerton, the football players who were questioned in the Marines death, quarterback Carlos Siragusa and wide receiver John Gibbs, were seen entering Coach Gene Murphy’s office for a private talk Tuesday.

Both refused to speak with reporters, maintaining the silence they have held since the night of the fight.