A Tragedy Out Of The Blue
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Updated December 28, 2024
It was one of those tragedies that came out of the blue. The kind no one expected to happen. Indeed, none of the town’s residents knew about an evil man prowling their city.
He was a man who had not paid for his crimes against children, and so was roaming free to commit even more.
Jen was a typical 12-year-old girl dressed in a pep club uniform. She was standing with friends after a football game, waiting for her stepfather to pick her up.
A man who was a stranger suddenly pulled up in his vehicle, grabbed her, put her in his car, and drove away. It is one of those unthinkable tragedies no one can imagine.
Kidnapped Children:
Children are often taken, and no one sees the crime occur. But this kidnapping happened in plain sight.
Bystanders watched as Jen screamed, but they thought it was a father-daughter argument and they didn’t want to get involved. Her stepfather, who was supposed to pick her up after the football game, had somehow missed her in the crowd as he drove around the school.
Some men have no regard for others or the sanctity of human life. To show you how they compartmentalize, the kidnapper had just stopped at his brother’s house perhaps an hour before. He had eaten warm brownies from the oven, and he and his family had exchanged pleasantries like it was just any ordinary day.
But it wasn’t. For Jen, it would be her last day alive.
Evil That Walks Among Us:
The man got up, left his brother’s house, got into his car, and trolled a school. A 12-year-old girl in a pep club uniform caught his eye. None of the bystanders, the last people to see her alive, tried to stop him.
He took her to his nearby trailer, where he did unspeakable things to her. He would choke her until she was almost dead, then let her cough her way back to life. Only to do it again. And again.
At some point, he tired of her. He put her in his car and dumped her naked body on the side of the road. Her pep club uniform was never found.
The man then stole a car, and early the following day, a street cop pulled him over and arrested him for car theft.
In Jail Cell For Another Crime:
He was already sitting in jail when they found her body. Then, the focus went from his stealing a car to the fact that he had a history of molesting children.
It was November, a few years after this horrible tragedy, when I did my legwork and interviewed the dead girl’s mother.
It was Thanksgiving morning when I took her mother the words I had written. I’d promised she could read it and check all the facts before I gave it to a regional editor to put in his newspaper.
I sat in her quiet house, trying to be invisible, while she turned the pages I had given her to read. I seem to remember a clock ticking somewhere in the house.
This woman’s life had been torn apart. Losing her 12-year-old daughter was bad enough in and of itself. But losing her to a random pedophile who used her and tossed her in the bushes like a piece of trash was quite another.
Before noon that day, I left Jen’s mother’s house and drove home to cook a turkey for my two daughters. But I could not get that mother’s face out of my mind. The lines on her face spoke of inconceivable pain and suffering that would never end.
A During The Christmas Season:
I recall one day not long afterward, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the murderer and sent him to Death Row drove with me to Jen’s grave site.
It had been a challenging case to prosecute. He was a father, just as I was a mother. The crime hit home in the most obvious way, and we will never be able to forget the facts of that horrific kidnapping and murder.
When faced with her tombstone, I saw that his emotions were rising to the surface, so I gave him some space. I walked among the tombstones away from him, allowing him to be alone for a time.
Unfortunately, in his line of work, there would always be another murder. Another child. Another man to prosecute.
Music In The Distance:
Suddenly, in the distance, I heard the sounds of a school band beginning to play a Christmas carol. I stopped walking and listened.
It was likely her school, which was nearby. It was the last place where she was just an innocent young girl dressed in her pep club uniform, cheering for her team at a football game.
I looked at the assistant district attorney across the short distance between us, and our eyes met. I could see that he heard it, too. The band, amateur young musicians, missed notes here and there, somehow making it feel all the more tragic.
How would they ever understand what happened to Jen, their classmate? Out of the blue, a heinous crime had interrupted many lives, and those lives would never be the same again.
A Tragedy Out Of The Blue:
Last night, out of the blue, I got it into my head to Google the man who went to Death Row. I found that he had been dead for nine years. He died of natural causes.
This meant he had 20 years to sit in prison—twenty more Christmases than Jen had in her short life.
I also discovered that the lead prosecutor died just a few years ago. All the principal characters are now gone.
When I turned the lights off that evening, I thought of each person involved for quite a while. One was a prosecutor, and the other was an innocent 12-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her. And a monster who had hurt many children over the years without being caught and punished.
It took the death of Jen to stop him. To put him in a cage until he died. He would not have a chance to hurt another child. But stopping him had cost Jen her life and decimated her family.
She would never spend another holiday with her mother, never open Christmas presents, never grow up and graduate from high school, never get married, and perhaps never become a mother herself. These things she was brutally deprived of.
Jen was robbed of her innocence in the worst way possible.
Oh, Brenda. What a heartbreaking story. There's nothing more I can say. Words simply fall short. Gentle hugs, Nancy
Oh Brenda, How I wish we could keep our children safe from all these evil people. I have a 12 year old grand daughter, a brilliant girl with long beautiful blonde hair. She has never met people like that and I'm not sure she would believe it if we told her there were people like that in this world. I pray for her every day, as I know many people do pray for their precious children.
Heartbreaks such as this are just too much.
Hugs, Cindy
Brenda what a horrible event and your moving story helps us all realize how this kind of thing changes lives forever. I admire your writing and your strength!
A very sad story , thank you for sharing. That's one sob down maybe by spreading information like this many more people will be aware as to what kind of inhumane people lurk the streets and prey on children. Laws should be more strict for registered child molesters. Many parents are not aware that they can pull files up on line in their area on registered child molesters. Thanks again! Lisa @ Sweet Tea N' Salty Air
Excellent writing.
Brenda, I can only imagine how difficult this "story" was for you to cover. After reading this post, I'm sure you handled Jen's story with compassion and love–and that her mother knew you cared. 20 years (Do you know, is her mother still alive?) Twenty years on death row and "natural causes" were too good for that monster–at least we know that he won't harm anyone ever again.
So sad and especially when we consider this isn't a one time event, it happens all too often. Gorgeous photos Brenda…
Blessings,
Cindy
You are a gifted writer, and I know the family of the young girl clung to your words as their way of telling her story. Bravery is needed by people everywhere to warn of dangers when you least expect them.
How tragic the bystanders didn't react in a different way at the initial abduction. We should all take this as a lesson to speak up! Say something! Pay attention! Keep an eye on all children!
Wow! So so sad. 🙁
Very powerful. Thank you for sharing.
One of my former students who was also a family friend, was abducted, not by an older man, but an older boy who complimented her and made her feel "grown up". He tired of her, killed her and threw her in a drainage ditch. He was part of the search crew along with the police and friends and family. But, his family had money and her family did not. He finally confessed and led them to the body, and his parents paid off someone so he got off.
Thank you for keeping her memory alive. Beautifully written.
I do not know how people can work in cases like this and remain sane. Truly. I admire(such an understatement) those who can. I googled the details of the last post you wrote of the two girls who vanished and think I found the case you spoke of. Tragic.
Though I live in a country without capital punishment, I fully believe there are some crimes for which there is no other acceptable punishment.
Maybe fate stepped in when he stole that car that morning and was arrested. Just maybe another innocent child was spared from this animal. I reported several of these cases when I was working in Superior Court here, and believe me you never forget them. You wrote a beautiful tribute to Jen, thank you for doing so.
How tragic and so very sad..We all need to keep our eyes open
Unreal where people are in our world today. As a parent and grandparent, I grieve for anyone who would have to deal with this kind of situation. Humanly, one can never forget what this person has done to this girl and others. The only peace I can bring to my mind is knowing God will bring His justice one day.
You take care.
Emily
What is our society doing to create so many perps?
Why is it easier to catch someone for stealing a car than killing a girl?
You bear witness Brenda. I have no idea why G*d has given you this skill. We need your grace in telling these stories.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Such a horrible story and a reminder that we need to be more and more vigilant when it comes to child predators. xo Laura
Oh Brenda, who can understand these horrible things…your work must have been so draining and difficult in that you had to live them alongside the victims and families 🙁 It is hard to fathom losing a child, let alone to something like that. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it 🙁
Brenda,
Your recounting of this horrible tragedy made me stop – smack in the middle of reading it – to try and grip the reality of your previous career. You must be a very strong individual to be able to interview parents of victims, write about the facts, and with each edit, repeat the monstrous crime in your mind, the torn faces of the parents and the eery and haunting experience of the victim. Work experience such as yours, I imagine, never takes a leave of absence, for it is simply too embedded in your mind and your heart.
Thank you for this story and its accompanying images. And, although I couldn't read it fast enough, it made me slow down to appreciate the health and safety of my loved ones.
Poppy
This was a hard one for me to read tonight. My girl is 12 years old now and starting to enjoy some of the freedoms that come with being in middle school and I just can't imagine how horribly painful it must have been for her family. I remember you writing about her before but now it hits a little bit closer. I am glad that you keep her memory alive when so many of those who fought for her are now gone.
Beautiful are the photos!
Greetings, RW & SK
This is so unbelievable sad. As a mother, this would be my worst nightmare. I don't know how any parent goes on after the death of the child, especially in an instance such as this, knowing how she suffered in the end.
So very sad. I can't imagine even waking up in the morning after losing a child like that.
Gulp.
Whew. Heavy.
May she rest in peace awaiting the Coming of Our Savior.
Can you tell us the child's name? Maybe just her first name? I believe that a person is never forgotten if someone remembers his or her name.
Is the mom still alive? I'll pray for her.
Jenipher.
This is a cut and dried case for a quick death penalty if I ever saw one. The fact that we have to house these monsters makes my stomach turn. I pray for peace for the mother and a future happy reunion in Heaven with her beloved daughter.
Such a sad time for you I bet..gives me the chills someone could do this to an innocent sweet young girl…God Bless her sweet soul and damn him to hell!!! where I am sure he is…so many predators in this world anymore its scarey…no one is safe anywhere today 🙁 Carol
What a sad story. It is a reminder of the world we live in. Things and people are not always as they seem. It's a shame that people sit on death row so long. Is there ever really any justice?
What a heartbreaking story, but thank you for sharing it all the same. There really are no words to say, just sadness over such a tragedy.
WOW! I tink that this would stay in my mind forever if I were involved in any way. I didn't know that you worked for the media. You really saw the good and bad of life didn't you?
What a tragic story Brenda and hauntingly beautiful photos.
Cindy
Wow.