I don’t mean to get chatty because I know these threads are all business, but if you can indulge me just this once, I’d like to praise you. But in a roundabout way. Like, in order to tell you that, I need to tell you this.
The cases that I tend to get waaaay into are those that are geographically close to me. In 2010 when I came to WS it was because of the brutal murder of a local seventeen-year-old, Mackenzie Cowell. (A guilty plea and the sentencing of a 29-year-old male student at the beauty school Makenzie attended while still in high school in Wenatchee, WA, occurred after an arrest eight months later.) During those months of uncertainty, a group of Websleuthers formed a team that not only posted on something like seventeen threads here but also sleuthed every night in a private chatroom and on a private Facebook page.
Two of those sleuthers became close friends of mine—one I never did have the good fortune to meet in person and the other an individual who lived a few blocks from me but whom I never would have met without Websleuths. Both have passed on now and are remembered in my footer. Liz lived five hours away in Idaho, and how she cared about Mackenzie’s case! And I also remember the massive sleuthing skills of a WS-er named TC, far away in Indiana, who dug so hard and rapidly and had such heart for the case. She took it on like a tiger. It wasn’t these friends’ town and yet they cared as if it were. They latched onto the case like the victim was their cousin.
Now years later another horrendous crime and deep tragedy has visited Wenatchee, and here you all are, have been, will be. A few persons posting are local or reside in the state, but many of you have maybe never set foot in the state of Washington and yet you surely know Chelan County much better than I do. I’ve been plunked down in this county for 37 years and don’t have a clue about the wilderness areas. Then you tell me what is flying over my head. You check out websites and wrack your brain, exercise reason, lend expertise, and it’s all centered on a community you may never know. This is very generous. Very helpful. And as Tricia, the manager of WS, always says, LE does read here. I think Websleuths is fantastic. The standards are very high, the monitoring is very good, and the members are so doggone smart, their hearts gigantic. You look at things every which way and the result is a cooperative work of art and science and instinct.
Now to get on topic after that massive detour—but do feel good about yourselves because you deserve to….I attended the memorial service tonight. It was really something. I am trying to think of things to tell you that might not be noted from watching a streamed or recorded version.
Attendees definitely wore the girls’ favorite colors, with dads, too, sporting shirts of green or purple or pink. Many children were present. Upon arrival everyone was given a circular decal that featured delicate flowers in the three colors, muted, and the words “Never Forgotten”. The setting on a large lawn a stone’s throw from the Columbia River and the Rocky Reach Dam spillway seemed perfect to me. So many individuals worked to coordinate traffic, and the electronic signs that recently said “Don’t Pick Up Hitchhikers" now read “Event Traffic 2.5 Miles”. With little space to park, many attendees arrived by bus. I rode in a 40’ yellow school bus. Link Transit had needed help, so Wenatchee School District stepped up.
If you have heard or will hear the speakers, I think you will agree with me that they were stellar…..and how they summoned the courage to get up there and address the crowd so eloquently is beyond me. Each girl was represented by a speaker (from school, dance class, and by their grandfather), and each girl’s personality was suddenly distinct and right there. Then to my astonishment, Whitney spoke. She talked about how she and her girls had learned to share three feelings of the day with each other every night, and stated that she hopes that we can all do some version of the three feelings with our loved ones. There she was thinking of others! As you can imagine, Whitney received a very prolonged standing ovation. If you would have liked to have been there, too, I wish you could have been.
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God help us all. If that woman isn't sad enough, then... I don't even know. 
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