UPDATED: Channon Christian's parents share their idea of "justice"

Gary Christian, a Texas native, says his version of justice for those accused in his daughter's rape and murder isn't allowed. "I can't comment on what I think justice would be," Gary said. "They already told me no." Sitting on the sidelines at every court appearance, watching prosecutors do the job for them, is tough. In the suspects' first federal court appearances, Gary was seen forming a gun with his thumb and index finger. "I got in trouble for that with my wife," he explained. "The way I see it, it's no different than hunting back in East Texas, sitting in a deer stand and looking out and seeing a pack of wild dogs. They just bring them in one at a time." "They took our baby girl, what does anybody expect?" Deen Christian said. Both Channon Christian's parents expect the death penalty. "That's the closest thing I'll ever get to living up to the promises I made my daughter," Gary said. Gary took the last phone call from his daughter. Her final words make his eyes fill with tears. Deena also remembers exactly when her husband took that call. It was 12:35 a.m. on the first Sunday in January 2007. Channon told her father that she and Chris Newsom would return to her parents' home from a friend's apartment by 3:00 a.m. "I said, 'all right, be careful, and I love you,'" Gary explained. "And that's the last thing she said to me ... was she loved me." Gary and Deena Christian say their daughter's killers can't take away that love, even though they've stolen so much. "Nothing's the same, nothing," Gary said. "Everybody that knew her has a big hole in 'em, where she was." "They'll remember her smiling," Deena explained. "Her smile would light up a room. It didn't matter where she was. She was beautiful, and it wasn't just on the outside." The Christians say their daughter and Newsom were watching a movie and eating with friends all night at her best friend's apartment. They believe the four people accused of killing and raping the couple targeted Channon's SUV. They say Chris's truck was still parked outside the apartment, and the doors were unlocked. "They [the suspects] probably grabbed Channon," Deena said. "And Chris, being the type of guy he was, he went to her defense and it all dominoed from there." Their daughter, a UT senior who was majoring in sociology, would have graduated this month. Her father says Channon wanted to be a forensic scientist. Her mother says she was also considering a profession in which she could work with children. Channon would have celebrated her 22nd birthday on April 29. "The kids knew it was going to be very hard for us," Deena explained. Her countless friends were there for Channon that day. This year, they gathered to comfort her parents and big brother Chase with memories. "They made a picture frame, a really big frame with a picture of her in the middle, and they wrote memories about her all around it," Gary explained. "It was awesome." They also made a bulging scrapbook and a quilt out of her favorite t-shirts. They are things the Christian family can cling to forever. "She [Channon] wanted four kids," Deena said. "I'll never have grandkids from my daughter. He [Gary] will never walk anybody down the aisle." Instead, they've vowed to sit in court. "If the doors are open, we'll be there," Gary said. "We have to be," Deena added. They say they will sit through the trials of the four accused murderers, even if it means they have to hear every horrible detail of what happened to their only daughter. They say they want to know exactly what she suffered. "Hell," Deena explained of hearing the details. "Pure hate that you can't understand, I guarantee," Gary said. "I hope you never do." Gary says that 75 percent of the alleged details of the crimes against his daughter's that are being discussed the internet are simply wrong. "People have stretched it out of proportion," Gary said. "It was horrific. They were tortured. Most of it [on the web] is speculation." Gary says Chris Newsom's parents are the only people he's talked to since January who truly understand how he feels about what happened. "If you're a mother or a father, and you got a daughter, and somebody does this to them, they know what I thought," Gary said. "They have an idea." The first time Deena talked with Newsom's parents, she says she had to tell them their son was missing. Now, the parents who've both lost a child draw strength from each other. The Christians say the crime that claimed their daughter's life also claimed their sense of security. Gary explained they're constantly looking over their shoulders. He said he even meets Deena at the grocery store, and watches to make sure she gets in and out safely. "Happened once, shame on me," Gary explained. "Won't happen again. Not to my family." The Christians say they do not blame racial issues for their daughter's death. "You know, I could care less if they were pink or purple, or whatever color they were," Deena explained. "They took our child. They took our daughter. They took Chris away from the Newsom family. So, color, to me, it doesn't matter. It's what they took from us that matters." "I'll say this, this was not I think a racial crime," Gary continued. "I don't think they went out, black people, looking for white people. What it turned into, I don't know. "But I know this, I believe in my heart, that wild animals come in lots of different colors. The end result is they're still wild animals. And these people had been feeding off people in Knoxville before this and for many days afterwards," Gary said. He wouldn't comment on whether he was aware of additional crimes the suspects may have committed.