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More tears than usual were spilled tonight at Santa Monica High School's last choral concert of the year. It would have been the final performance with the class of 2004 for Deanna Maran, the 15-year-old Samo girl who was killed on November 17, 2001 at an upscale party in Westwood. Parents of teens will remember this one. Deanna was stabbed to death, as Michael Cieply wrote then in a Times opinion piece, while kids "from some of the best private schools in Los Angeles" looked on. Adding to the tragedy, her assailant died the next day of a drug overdose at the West L.A. police station. From tonight's program:
Deanna MaranWho is here in spirit. We carry you always in our hearts. Your love of life and choir will live on. In loving memory, Inese, Jeff & Juliana.