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‘It came back for me’ painful memories resurface for Suffolk mom after death at landfill

Posted at 10:46 PM, Oct 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-18 23:26:09-04

SUFFOLK, Va. - The mother of an 18-year-old, who died at the John C. Holland Landfill 16 years ago, says Tuesday's incident brought back painful memories.

Janet Dedmon says as soon as she saw police officers outside of the landfill, she knew something terrible happened.

Two employees, Eric Williams and Steve Wilk, died after getting trapped inside a concrete manhole.

"It came back for me," says Dedmon. "It was a hard time and it brought back harder times when I had to find out that somebody else got killed again."

Dedmon says her son Brian was doing work for a landfill employee, back in March 2000, when he was crushed in an incident involving a bull dozer.

According to online records, the incident was investigated by the state.

Another investigation shows that in 2007, an employee was thrown out of a piece of equipment, suffering from broken legs, an ankle injury, and head injuries.

"Right when his life began, just at 18-years-old, and it's been really hard," says Dedmon. "It's hard even riding past there every day, that close to my home, every day."

Dedmon says she will never know what happened to her son.

As police and OSHA continue to investigate Tuesday's incident, she hopes the families of the two men can get closure.

"I feel sorry for the family that lost their loved ones like I had to lose mine."