I was in my early teens when news broke of a serial rapist/killer close to home. Young girls were being abducted, tortured and murdered in the most horrific ways.
As a young girl, I was terrified. But also glued to the television.
It was the first time I remember being so deeply affected by such tragedy. I didn't know the young girls personally, but there were just too many eery circumstances that made me think "It could have been me".
News broke that the rapist drove around mall parking lots looking for his "catch". When I heard that he drove around a mall parking lot just 10 minutes away from my home, I was terrified. "What if.....?"
When I saw the pictures of three of the girls, they looked like any girl in my school. Normal. Pretty. Kind. Young.
When I learned that one of the girls lived in the same community and attended the same school I did as a young child, I couldn't help but wonder. "What if....?"
It was a scary time. Knowing that there was someone out there who was sick enough to do what he was doing, kept me awake at night. Thinking of what these poor girls went through in their last hours made me sick to my stomach. Wondering how their families could survive every moment without them made me do the ugly cry.
None of it made any sense.
And then we found out that his wife helped him.
And one of the girls was her own sister.
I am not someone who believes capital punishment is the answer, but in this case, I believe they deserve exactly what they did to these poor girls. I will spare you the gory details.
I read every single book written.
Watched every documentary and news broadcast.
And saw the interviews.
My opinion hasn't changed.
I am forever scarred by the sickness of two scary individuals.
And my daughter will have to put up with Mommy's paranoia as she gets older and more independent because this story will be running through my mind until she is...ummmm......72.
Oh yeah.
Knowing that the female "sicko" is out of jail, has a healthy baby boy and is living a "normal" life makes me want to vomit.
Have you been deeply affected by a tragedy?????
Thanks to MamaKat, I will now have nightmares again.
