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Vell's Christmas party was about a week or so before Christmas. They had it that year at Tom's Cafe right down the way from Vell's.

When I got there, Mario, Brian and Rob were all sitting together at a table talking.

They weren't arguing or anything. It was a Christmas party. They were all just having fun.

Jerry was sneaking his son Mario drinks. Then Mario was handing off those drinks to Rob and Brian.

Everyone knew that Brian didn't really go out much or party really, so it didn't take him long to get pretty buzzed.

Around 10-30 or so, I told Brian he was cut off for the night because it was clear he had his fill.

I remember I joked with Brian saying I was going to call his mother and tell her that he was drunk.

Brian then turned around on me and joked that he would call my mom. Well, I didn't hesitate.

I gave Brian my mom's phone number and told him to go ahead and call her. And he did. He called her and he said something like,

I got your daughter and hung up the phone. Well, as you can imagine, my mom flipped out.

She called my brother, who then called Brian back in his cell phone. Brian was trying to explain it was a joke.

They weren't too happy about that.

Brian left the party shortly after the phone call to my mom and I remember that he was really upset.

I'm pretty sure he was crying a little. He felt his work at Vals was underappreciated and that he wasn't getting the credit he deserved for anything he did around there.

Everyone who worked there knew Brian did a lot more than any other employee.

He was talking about how he wanted to get out of the small town, how he was ready to move on to bigger and better things for himself.

It breaks my heart that he never got that chance.

On the morning of December 20th, 2002, there was a chill in the air that cuts straight to the bone.

As Brian bundled up for school, it would be the last time that Terry Carrick would ever lay eyes on her son.

We can only wonder, did she hug him a little longer that morning? Did he make sure to tell his mother how much he loved her?

While we will never know, we'd like to think he did.

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