Been quietly following this case. Last night I asked my husband how an 18yr old could be in Tech, a successful runner and snap to killing a 13 yr old child. His response "he didn't snap. He most likely always was what is now surfacing." As a parent, it's just hard to understand these cases. 3 families of victims left to pick up the pieces. So unimaginable yet we see it happen, case after case. My kids are 4 yrs apart in age. My son would have throttled any of his guy friends that thought his sister was sexy, or wanted to date her. Wouldn't have happened. Many did try, many failed because as her parents, we asked questions, knew ages, and squashed things before it became an issue. Having said that, my husband is 5 yrs older than I am. We met graduation night, so I was 18 at the time. My parents flipped!!! Just celebrated 25yrs together, so all wasn't bad. However, had I been 13 and him 18 when we met, no way, no how would we have gotten together. Even at 18, living at home, curfew was midnight. My husband brought me home 15 minutes late one night, Dad was waiting on the porch for us. He ushered me inside, and my husband got a 30 minute lecture on being disrespectful to me, my parents, himself, etc. Then Mom started in how nothing good comes after midnight, and no respectable guy would subject the reputation of their girlfriend of being a *advertiser censored* or whoremonger...because in her opinion, that's all that's out after midnight! My husband was grilled about where we had been, how long at each place, what we had done, etc. He said he wasn't ever coming back. Needless to say, he did. However, we made sure our dates started earlier so we were home before midnight, yet still had time together. And much to my parent's surprise, sex can happen before midnight.
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At any rate, I'm devastated for the loss of another young girl, just starting life in the rough teenage period, with many obstacles against her. While schools tout the no bullying slogan, I haven't actually seen any of our local schools truly take a stand against bullying. Many times the school will even suggest the child being bullied is doing something to draw attention to themselves, and thus creating the bullying against them. There's been way too many suicides within the middle and high schools here, and bullying usually played some part in each. I hadn't looked in the social media aspects until tonight. I'm truly heartbroken seeing how terrible things were for Nichole, and how much she wanted to fit in, be with a group, have friends, be accepted, and lacked self esteem. And that's just glimpses of her life that she chose to share. The deeper pain she was dealing with just makes me cry. She was screaming for attention and help. I can't blame anyone but the one responsible for taking her life. As in many cases, there's red flags that in hindsight I wish someone had seen, and intervened, but we don't know if maybe intervention was being done, and yet not successful. My greatest hurt is her speaking of wanting to die, to shoot herself, and not much online support to stop her. I just wanted to reach through the computer and hug her as I read some of the posts. My imagination has a tendency to take off after following so many cases. My greatest fear is that not all of Nichole was found. I truly pray I'm wrong and that's not why they are searching that pond at the Vet center at Tech. A place I've been many times. Taken many animals to their program for medical attention. Considered top notch when local vets can't figure out a problem, and a great resource to those close enough to use as their regular vet as the knowledge is so vast. Tech engineering program is seen as a good one in this area. Many companies will hire graduates straight from the program, knowing they have no experience. I don't know how difficult it is to get into the program though. I am not sure it's as competitive as the Vet program is. At any rate, unless you have lots of money to private pay, you best have great grades, be involved in community services, and apply for grants and scholarships. It's not a cheap school. Out of state would be paying even more. My prayers for all of Nichole's family, especially her brother she seemed close to. Prayers for the perp's families as well. I can't imagine having a child charged with murder, or illegally disposing of a human. There's just such a huge path of devastation in the path of these two perps. While I may joke that I know of 40acres in the back, there's no way I would or could help someone in such a way. Pray I'm never in that situation!!! Even with a gun to my head, I just can't see me helping. Burying a pet or livestock animal on the farm upsets me. I can't imagine....