Hi everyone. I've been a longtime reader of WS, but this is my first post. I was inclined to join after this case happened. It hits close to home - Melissa was a fellow alumni of my college, and while our years there overlapped, I did not know her.
It's a tight-knit community up there where not many bad things happen. I know a bunch of folks who are from Lyndon/St. J, as well as college friends who decided to live up there after graduation. It's needless to say that in addition to the grief, everyone is just plain angry. How dare these sickos do something like this to an innocent, beloved person.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this, but current and former members of the LSC and St. J Academy schools, as well as locals to the area are planning on wearing pink tomorrow, Friday, in memory of Melissa. I wanted to pass it along to all of you as well. It won't bring her back, but it's a small gesture to make sure she's in our thoughts. There's also a memorial fund that's been started, undoubtedly for her son. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post that information, either, but let me know and I will.
It seems like everyone I know from college and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont has had this horrible case on their minds since it happened. I am so sad that Melissa was so nice of a person that she didn't fully listen to her gut on this one. I hate that these awful people took advantage of that.
I'll tell you something about the area though - those back roads are dark. Even the main highway in Vermont, I-91, isn't lit very well. I can't tell you how many times my bad sense of direction got me off an exit and lost. Once, I was trying to meet my mom at the local hotel in St. J, and got off the wrong exit. It would have been the same exit to get to Melissa's house. I tried calling my mom crying because it was late, and let's not beat around the bush here, I'm pretty afraid of the dark. Cell phone reception, at least in the early 2000's when I was up there, sucked. Half the time it was nonexistent. Even when I did know where I was going, usually on late night drives with my roommate, I would get nervous about possibly breaking down on a pitch dark road with no cell service. It's easy to see, sadly, how people can "get away" with bad things and having no one else around to witness it.