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I believe that two conditions enabling this behavior are religious beliefs ingrained from an early age and a Stockholm Syndrome like phenomenon. For those who are preconditioned to forgive no matter what, the emotional shock from a loss of this nature may delay the onset of this behavior; but, the person eventually comes back around to their core values getting gradual relief through their belief system. For others, the prolonged emotional drain may become overwhelming and they're broken (not unlike people who are broken by prolonged physical torture) and turn to empathizing with their offenders as an emotional escape mechanism.
I suspect the latter circumstance in this case since forgiveness doesn't require befriending; or, changing other core values like becoming an advocate against the death penalty. The statement "All of a sudden, all the anger and rage was gone," is an indicator that she simply snapped (reached her breaking point). The statement "I was truly in a state of grace, just from offering another human being forgiveness. ..." is an indicator that she was not predisposed to unconditional forgiveness otherwise she would have felt that she was just returning to a state of normalcy. I'd call her coping mechanism capitulation; because, the offender is behind bars. If he was freed, I suspect she would become his unconditional groupie.
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