No, I am even more disgusted. I find it very difficult to believe that her family did not know that Melissa was a female sex predator, why was this woman put in charge of a Sunday school class? I am just sick over this newest development.
Keep in mind there is always a first time a predator abuses. If MH is actually charged with such horrible crimes ending in Sandra's death, I doubt it will turn out to have been the first time she has abused...but it could be. Even if she's done these terrible things before, it takes a while before predators get to the noticeable "creepy" stage where everyone knows something is wrong. Unfortunately, they may not get to that place at all.
Most teens and young adults get away with a boatload of stuff without their parents suspecting anything, and MH's grandfather is 77, raised children in simpler times, and I daresay he is much less in tune with "signs" than young parents are. It would be nice if we could recognize sexual predators easily, but take a look at what is happening in our public schools every day and you will see that just isn't the case. While many people in our school system are actually taught to detect such people, sexual abuse remains an epidemic in our schools.
In cases like this I too wonder, "How could they not have known?!" But with the amount of horrible crimes taking place daily in our country, and the amount of shocked and broken family members left in their paths, I have to accept the fact that many times they just don't have a clue. Personally, I can't come to terms with the new information which has come out today, and I'm not even a relative. I don't think normal people can wrap their heads around such evil things being possible, and while they may have known she was a thief I doubt they ever had a flicker of a thought that she could do such an evil thing as she has. (For the record, if it's determined the family knew of Melissa's criminal past, I feel they were unquestionably wrong to put her in any position at all within the church, but that's all I feel they are guilty of at this time. My opinion would change if evidence is released that they knew of prior sexual abuse by MH, but LE has not suggested anything of the kind thus far.)