Mother Forgives Marine Son's Murderer, Hands Him Bible

On Valentine’s Day, Cynthia Arias saw Darren Evans sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 beating death of her son, Mario Arias, in the barracks of a Camp Pendleton-based training unit.

At the sentencing, the 20-year-old Marine read an apology to the family. The grieving mother remembers stopping her son’s murderer as he was being escorted out of the courtroom and putting his hands on a bible she had bought for him.

"I have to accept his forgiveness and tell him that I forgive him too," she said. “I told him, ‘just read it, God is good; read it every day.' When I hugged him, he said … ‘Ma’am, I’m really sorry.’”

Whether or not Evans meant the apology was up to God, she told Patch.

Evans was blacked-out drunk and doesn’t remember bludgeoning his roommate to death with a crowbar, but admitted to the murder as part of a plea deal last month.

Related: Marine Sentenced to Life in Beating Death of Roommate

Mario Arias was under the covers of his bed—possibly asleep or using his laptop. Evidence and witness testimony was sufficient enough for Evans to plead guilty.

Evans and Mario Arias were both 19-year-old lance corporals training with Marine Aircraft Group 39. During witness testimony last year, Marines said Mario Arias and others had asked the unit to help Evans, whom they believed had a drinking problem. Even though the unit was warned, and even though Evans was under the drinking age, he was able to drink freely in the barracks—which one witnessed described as “party barracks”—among noncommissioned officers the night he killed Mario Arias.

Weeks after the death, the unit published an internal memo that shows a response of increased leadership presence at the troubled barracks.

Despite this testimony, Cynthia Arias doesn’t blame the the unit. Evans—who had visited her Canoga Park home months before her son’s death—was responsible for drinking that night, she said.

“Nothing was forced on him,” she said. “[Marines] have the ability to say 'no.' They’re no longer children. They’re no longer toddlers.”

She remembers her son as a friendly young man who joined the Marine Corps to follow in the footsteps of his sister—a local gunnery sergeant. 

Cynthia Arias said she finds solace in the possibility that her son was sleeping when he died and values the short time she had with Mario.

“I thank God for the 19 years that he let me have my son,” she said. “It gives me peace to know that he’s in heaven with God and not here on earth.”

Darren Evans' defense counsel declined to comment on this story. Marine Aircraft Group 39 did not comment as of press time. 

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