I still don't know what I think happened. I continually remind myself not to expect these parents to react the way I would...or think I would. I live in a remote area of Northern Vermont on the Canadian border. My town is very small, many here are hardworking but impoverished without much education, maybe not even a high school education. My husband and I are highly educated, well traveled and chose to live in this particular town because it's in one of the most beautiful places we've ever been.
I know plenty of people like this family, and am friends with many of them. Do you think DM and MBM don't know what you think when you see where they live and their life circumstances? It can be overwhelming to suddenly be the focus of international attention. Your kids are missing. Everyone's looking at you. You're a mixed family, kids from different relationships. You know people are giving you the cross-eye. So you overcompensate with too many details...or you hide from public view. You use the wrong words. You can't cry anymore, even though people expect you to. How do you wake up every day and do it all over again?
What if the kids really did slip out the door and are lost in those woods? What if the creepy resident, or one of many creepy residents in town, took your kids? What if people start wondering about grandma, who just wasn't home, maybe she was at work or grocery shopping? What if it was someone who had watched your kids get off the bus every day? What if your mind is spinning as much as everyone else's?
Until authorities tell me these parents are responsible for the disappearance, I will continue to give them grace. And from what we know, authorities just don't know, any more than I do, you do, we do.
