Death Stole Mom’s Chance to Witness Son’s Success : Loss: She was doused with gas, set on fire. He finds she still guides him.

Chris Granier rarely makes a decision without first determining what would have pleased his mom. From joining the Navy to buying a car, the 19-year-old includes his mother’s values and opinions in nearly everything he does.

“When I bought my car, I picked out a Saturn because that’s the car she had,” Granier said. “A lot of things I have in my life now are there because they remind me of her.”

His mother, Karin Marie LaBorde, was killed last year when, according to police, a La Habra janitor walked into the Tustin company where she worked as a bookkeeper, doused her with gasoline, then set her on fire. The suspect, Jonathan Daniel D’Arcy, allegedly was angry over a $150 paycheck he claimed was owed him by the company. D’Arcy faces trial later this year.

Three months after his mother’s death, Granier was forced to move in with a friend after his unemployed stepfather was unable to support him and his sister. His sister, Renee, was sent to live with relatives in Ohio.

Today, more than a year later, Granier has managed to do more than just survive the tragedy--he has succeeded against great odds, those who know him say.

Teachers at El Camino Real Continuation High in Placentia, where Granier was a graduating senior, picked him as a “student of the year” for both academic achievement and service to the community. He had earned a 3.7 grade-point average, despite taking a heavy course load to make up for classes he missed at Villa Park High School after his mother’s death, and was active in student council.

He also was given a commendation during his junior year for talking a man out of committing suicide, an act that El Camino Real counselor Linda Henn said was just what she would expect from Granier.

Granier said he was riding his bike in Villa Park when he came across a man who was threatening to jump off a bridge. The teen-ager talked to the man for about 20 minutes until police arrived. The incident occurred about two months after his mother’s death.

“He is always thinking of others, always looking for ways to help them,” Henn said. “He is amazingly sensitive to others and is concerned about how they feel. People really respond well to him; they can see his concern is genuine.”

Henn said that despite the magnitude of the loss of his mother, being separated from his sister and being forced to find his own home, Granier has risen above becoming just a victim of tragedy.

“He is very grateful for the good things in his life and does not dwell on the negative,” Henn said. “He never used the situation to manipulate people into feeling sorry for him or to get special treatment.”

Most of Granier’s teachers and classmates at El Camino Real were not aware of his background when he began attending the continuation school last September.

“I never would have believed he had undergone such a tragedy,” said Glen Collard, principal at El Camino Real. “I didn’t even know about it until seven or eight months after he came here.”

It was while interviewing Granier for the student of the year awards that Collard found out how his mother had died.

“My admiration for Chris shot up 10 notches when I heard that,” Collard said. “The way he has responded to his mother’s murder puts him head and shoulders above what you would expect.”

Feb. 2, 1993, was the first day of the spring semester at Villa Park High School. Granier was new at the school, having spent his freshman and sophomore years at Esperanza High School in Anaheim.

“I had just sat down in fifth period when I was called to the office,” Granier recalled. “I didn’t really know anyone so I went there by myself. I was a little scared because when I got to the office, I saw the youth counselors from my church there. I knew right away it was about my family.”

When Granier’s sister arrived, the two were taken outside by the church counselors and told that their mother had been in an accident and she was not doing very well.

Although Granier begged to see his mom, members of his church who had gathered to support the two children were afraid to let him go to the hospital. Finally, they drove Granier and his sister to UCI Medical Center, where their mother had been taken with severe burns.

“When we got there my pastor said she had died,” Granier said.

Granier said he does not remember crying when he heard the news. He could only think about comforting his sister and his mother’s friends who had gathered at the hospital.

“I wanted to take care of everyone,” he said. “I thought if I could be there for them, I could get through it myself.”

Sitting in a diner in Yorba Linda that he had often visited with his mother, Granier said he had no bitterness or anger toward D’Arcy, the man accused in his mother’s death.

“I forgive him because God says we are to forgive,” Granier said. “I’m glad he’s getting help.”

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled in February that D’Arcy, who authorities say has a history of criminal arrests and violent behavior, was competent to stand trial. He is expected to be tried later this year. The district attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty for the 31-year-old defendant.

Granier credits his church, Evangelical Free Church in Orange, and the family he now lives with for giving him the strength to cope.

“I had all these people helping me out and I told myself I’m not going to fail,” he said.

After missing the rest of the school year following his mother’s death, Granier was seriously behind in the number of credits he needed to graduate. In order to graduate on time, he attended school from 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and for three hours a night, two nights a week. He also worked as a janitor on weekends to help support himself and held several volunteer positions to fulfill the school’s community service requirement.

Granier, who recently moved to Riverside from Yorba Linda, plans to enter the Navy in December and hopes to become a Navy Seal, he said. But he also plans to attend college and become a psychologist, another tribute to his mother.

“Before she died, she wanted to start a program (for troubled teens) at our church,” he said. “I want to be a psychologist so I can do what she wanted to do--help people who are hurting. If I do that, it will be like she is still here.”