Thien Minh Ly was brutally murdered in 1996 on the tennis courts of Tustin High School in California at age 24. Through anecdotes, tributes and letters from family and friends, he is remembered a year later. A letter glorifying the deed ("Oh, I killed a jap [sic] a while ago") led to the capture of his murderers and to the community's struggle to have the murder declared a hate crime.