MANKATO – It was a place Svetlana Munt loved.Munt’s Russian parents were among the dozens who gathered Monday morning in Mankato’s Rasmussen Woods to remember Munt on the one-year anniversary of her murder.
It was a place she “treasured as a place of peace,” says Denise Billington-Just.
Billington-Just was the former program coordinator at Mankato’s Elk’s Nature Center.
That how she first met Svetlana Munt.
“She came through and volunteered with the nature center and spent a lot of time just in the woods with her children interacting over nature,” says Billington-Just.
On March 28, 2010 the place of peace was shattered by at least seven shots from a gun held by her estranged husband Joel.
He remains in jail awaiting trial.
Munt was murdered inside her car in front of the couple’s three young children.
Pastor Al Thompson of First Congregational United Church of Christ led today’s brief memorial for Munt.
“What is it we remember this day? We remember a much loved daughter, we remember much loved children, we remember in other instances much loved husbands and spouses,” said Thompson.
Munt is one of just seven people who lost their lives in South Central Minnesuta during 2010 from domestic violence.
Billington-Just was hoping today would be a way to honor Svetlana, her family, other victims and survivors of domestic violence and to “reclaim this glorious preserve as a place of peace.”
“It’s a challenge just to know how much she loved it (Rasmussen Woods) and that her spirit’s here, but she won’t be trodding (sic) the trails anymore…that’s the hard part,” said Billington-Just.
Listen to the memorial service by Pastor Al Thompson
Denise Billington-Just speaks about Svetlana Munt
Listen to the memorial service by Pastor Al Thompson
Denise Billington-Just speaks about Svetlana Munt