Father of Slain Christian College Student Urges Forgiveness After Dorm Room Killing

The father of a freshman athlete strangled to death last month in his dorm room at a Kentucky Christian university asked his son’s classmates to choose forgiveness because “it’s the center of what Jesus is.”

Josiah Kilman, 18, was found dead in his dorm at Campbellsville University just before 1 a.m. on Feb. 24. He died of manual strangulation, according to a preliminary autopsy report from the state’s medical examiner.

Josiah Kilman

Charles “Zeke” Escalera, 21, a sophomore engineering student who was also a member of the school’s wrestling team, faces a murder charge in his killing.

Charles Escalera

The victim’s father, Joe Kilman, asked students assembled at the school’s chapel last Wednesday to yell out the emotions they were feeling in the wake of the loss of the “amazing young man.”

Among students’ responses yelled from the crowd were “anger,” “sadness,” “mad,” “confusion,” “frustration,” “guilty,” “broken,” “emptiness” and “unforgiveness.”

The elder Kilman told the students that he had “felt every single one of those emotions simultaneously since the moment [he] got the phone call.”

“Emotions are one thing,” Kilman said during the service, which was recorded and posted to the school’s YouTube account. “We have choices in life. Forgiveness is something I didn’t hear because it’s not an emotion – it’s a choice.”

“I challenge you to choose forgiveness, because in that forgiveness, we become the light of Jesus,” the father continued. “If Josiah was standing here right now, if he had the opportunity to come speak to you, he would talk to you about forgiveness.”

“Unforgiveness, that’s a curse. It comes with things you don’t want, things you don’t need. Josiah would’ve sat here and challenged you. For the life of Josiah, I challenge you,” the teen’s father said.

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Kilman was a biblical studies major at the university. His cousin, Sarah Cook, previously told Fox News Digital that he had “dreams of leading others to follow the Lord through the Christian principles.”

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