Read me
May 23, 2004: I sat with her at church. We talked about her freshman year and her missionary. I talked about my upcoming Study Abroad to Vienna.
May 24, 2004: A member of the Stake Presidency calls for my dad saying something about a “Stake Emergency”. My dad’s not home from work yet. When he finally gets home my mom has dinner waiting. He runs in the house puts on grubby clothes and runs out the door where his ride is waiting to take him to Corvallis to look for her.
May 26, 2004: We hold a Stake Fast.
Memorial Day 2004: We put up flyers all over Corvallis, answer “hotline” phone calls and traipse through the shrubbery, fields and forest for her.
May 2005: New evidence has come forward.
Winter 2006: I’m on my mission. My mom writes telling me they think they found the guy who did it. I cry openly in the dark internet café.
May 2006: It’s been two years. They hold a memorial service for her. Her missionary cries a lot. I get the program in the mail.
Over the last three years there were bits of evidence that came forward. They were pretty sure they found the guy who did it. Then they found her hair in his car. They knew they had the guy who did it. He had a trial in New Mexico. Then he was sent to Oregon.
September 21, 2009: He confesses to the murder and tells where the remains are.
I’m in shock. I feel sick. I feel selfish. I whined about not having friends. Yet in the last five years I have done more things and made more friends and have had more experiences than she ever did.
Selfish indeed.
But I know she was a good person, a wonderfully good person. I have no doubt that she is happy, that she is with Heavenly Father and that she will be with her wonderful family again. I’m so happy for the Plan of Salvation.
I’ll post happier from now on.
7 comments:
Oh, Lauren. I'm sorry! These kinds of things really do make you think about the good things we have, don't they? I wish her family the best.
Thanks for posting, I didn't know the latest and teared up just a little. I still think about her when I drive around Corvallis, and how we drove random rural roads staring and looking for evidence.
Wow... I'm so sorry. I read the article you posted also. Stories like that are so sad.. and I didn't even know her...
I read a story about her in the Daily Universe not an hour before I read this post.
I'm sorry, Lauren. :/ It's terrible what happened to her.
Lauren, I was going to write to you to let you know, but I figured it was national news and you would get it one way or the other. Kind of bittersweet news for the family, but at least there is closure.
Sounds like things are going okay for you. Keep your chin up and remember we are thinking of you.
Wow. It's nice to have closure, I'm sure. I've openly wept in public places too when I've heard about friends deaths. Whenever I read about these stories in the news I don't ever feel anything, probably because they happen all the time and there are TV shows about this stuff on all day every day. But this time it was different. She was a friend of a friend. And I actually felt something. Thanks for sharing. I'll pray for her family and friends tonight.
That was a great post to Brooke! Words can't express the feelings. I couldn't sleep when I found out. I wish I would have never read the papers. She is missed and loved.
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