> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Slain teenager’s family uses tragedy to educate - URL: https://www.smdp.com/slain-teenagers-family-uses-tragedy-to-educate/ - Published: 2002-10-01T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:45:54.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Crime, Brentwood, #archive-import *Story of Samohi student airs tonight on Dateline* It’s been nearly a year since 15-year-old Deanna Maran was fatally stabbed but her family wants to make sure no one forgets why or how it happened. The senseless killing of Deanna and the suicide of her suspected murderer, Katrina Sarkissian, a 17-year-old from Brentwood, is a lesson to learn from, the Maran family hopes. They’ll tell that to the nation tonight when NBC’s Dateline airs an hour-long story about the tragic events that unfolded at an unsupervised party hosted by a 15-year-old boy at his parents’ West Los Angeles party on Nov. 17, 2001\. It was at that party where Deanna, a popular Santa Monica High School sophomore, was stabbed in front of dozens of teenagers after Sarkissian and her 15-year-old half sister allegedly jumped Deanna. “What my sister got herself in to was not one-sided but there could have been a lot of different outcomes,” said Deanna’s oldest sister, Amika Maran. “Everybody expected a different result.” By keeping the story alive, the Marans hope that people, especially children, remember that the tragedy could have been avoided had other alternatives been used to resolve the dispute. They are using Deanna’s murder, as well as other similar stories, as case studies to be taught by leaders in the community. “Teens and children need to have the tools to get out of situations like my sister’s,” Amika Maran said. “We are trying to compile pieces of my sister’s story to a curriculum with the hope that students relate it as another student who died and they can see what happened from a human standpoint.” > “Teens and children need to have the tools to get out of situations like my sister’s.” — — AMIKA MARAN Victim’s sister The Maran family started a foundation in Deanna’s name to teach non-violence throughout the community and the country. It seeks to build an active group of students, teachers, parents and community members who commit to teaching others about the symptoms of violence, how to prevent escalation of violence, and how to stop it. 2AF,“Parents can be mindful of this story and talk to their kids about it,” Amika Maran said. Amika Maran is using her experience as an educator for Teach For America — a national corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in public schools in low-income communities — to create the curriculum and programs for her sister’s foundation. Amika Maran works for the organization in the San Francisco Bay area and is dedicated to providing opportunities to the nation’s youth. By connecting people to resources that educate students in grades K-12 about non-violent solutions, habits, and sensibilities the Marans hope one day all conflicts will end in peaceful resolution. Still in its infant stages, the foundation and its programs are just beginning to develop. Ilja Maran, Deanna’s father, said the programs and scholarships will start locally. But in the future, he envisions the foundation to support programs throughout the country. Thousands of dollars have raised since Deanna’s death. “People will forget so they need to be reminded,” Ilja Maran said. “Violence is like a disease; it’s in us but we have to educate people that nobody wins and it’s destructive to those who lose and those who win... kids don’t know what to do in dangerous situations.” The Deanna Maran Foundation also offers grants of up to $500 to students and K-12 classroom teachers for establishing projects in their schools and communities. Proposals from other educators such as community organizations and churches are considered on the basis of direct student impact. Types of projects funded by The Deanna Maran Foundation will be on a small scale that involve non-violence education, and are community orientated and clearly defined. The projects also should be sustainable in some way, instead of one-time events. The Deanna Maran Foundation for Non-Violence generally funds projects that promise the most direct and immediate student impact. Donations can be sent to: Deanna Maran Foundation for Non-Violence P.O. Box 7037 San Carlos, CA 94070 For more information on the foundation or the Deanna Maran’s story, go to www.maranfoundation.org. Dateline airs at 10 p.m. on channel 4. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 1, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100102.pdf?ref=smdp.com)