I am a mom to a preteen boy. A preteen boy who has struggled with depression, anxiety, ADHD and is on the spectrum. Many days I spend worrying about his future. Many days I worry about whether all the therapies and interventions I have lined up for him will be enough to help him. I worry about him becoming an adult and having to navigate for himself and make his own medical decisions. I worry whether I will successfully set an example for how to behave in in future relationship. I worry.
This case has made me reflect upon what I would have done differently from BL’s parents. I have posted before that I believe he was not honest with them when he returned. That he likely spun a tale of her meeting up with her friend in Yellowstone for her birthday and her flying home with her and sending him home with the van. It would have been at least a week before they would have known something was amiss. He could have told them they broke up. They knew they were having problems.
As a mom you want to believe your child. Would I have ignored the calls from GP? Maybe. Would I have followed the advice of counsel and not spoken? Yes. Would I have protected my son? Yes. Would I have put my son before GP’s parents? Yes . Why? Because I birthed him. Because he’s my blood. Because at the end of the day he’s my kid and she’s not. Would I feel guilty? Yes. Would I have tried every single day to pry what happened out of him, yes.
If I had any information that I thought would help find a missing endangered child ALIVE would I break my silence and tell the police? Yes. If my son confessed that he had done something to GP and she was dead would I have turned him in? No. I would follow the advice of counsel but urge him to do the right thing.
BL only drove to the reserve three days after GP was declared missing. This may have been only three days after BL’s parents knew definitively that she was missing. That may have been three days of them interrogating their son for information. Three days. He was not even declared a person of interest at this point. He was free to go hiking. If he didn’t come back, I would probably go looking for him. I certainly do not want to call the police. If I found the mustang, I probably would have assumed he was hiking and may have drove it back forcing him to call me to get a ride home because he is going to wonder where the damn car was. Am I going to start to panic when he doesn’t come home? Yes. Am I going to start to fear the worst? Yes. Eventually I have to call the police and report him missing. And I do. Finally.
While BL deserves to be eaten by alligators for what he has likely done, and I cannot come up with any alternate scenario that does not get him at least manslaughter should he be found alive, I can have compassion for his parents…as a mom.