From Maris's dear friend Valeria

The loss of Maris has left such emptiness.

Here is another beautiful email we received from one of Maris's dearest friends:

"I have a little marble Maris gave me that contains plutonium. It glows in the dark. I gave him a little Japanese chess board for his birthday one year, if you guys come across it you now know where it came from. I always meant to but never did apologize to you for helping Maris run up his cell phone bill during the first couple months we were sent overseas, sorry about that, but I think we were both pretty lonely and we missed each other a lot. ...Im expecting my first child, a girl. Her name is Phoenix Marisa Jones. Your son means a lot to me, he is one of the most sincere persons Ive ever known, my dad really liked him when he met him and never stopped asking about him. Maris really liked watching movies and it was something we did a lot, there are so many movies that remind me of him. We also got in trouble together sometimes. Maris was never a troublemaker but I sure am, so people told him to stay away from me. He never judged me though. He was also really, really good at paintball. He would sneak up on me and have me cornered, but never shot me, because he'd never hurt me, even in a game. I want your family to know I am truly thankful that Maris was who he was, and that he shared a bit of his life with me. I know my words could never console your family, but I hope it means something knowing Maris was an amazing friend to a lot of people."