Today's post is not about the law or politics or current events. It's about a cold case murder that has now been solved. I am about to take the case to trial as I discussed in a prior post.
Almost two decades ago two people were murdered. They were not good people by most people's standards, but they were still people. The man had a wife, ex-wife, girlfriends, and children. The woman had parents, an ex-husband, and was likely having sex with her divorce lawyer to pay for the divorce. Both victims were drug addicts, drug traffickers, and the woman was a stripper. She was 29 years old when she died. She would have been 47 later this year.
It's normal to be consumed with a case when preparing for a trial, but this one has consumed me in a different way. This time it's the female victim who has captured me. When I went to the decades old crime scene yesterday these victims, who I know only through twenty year old pictures, came back to life in my mind. As I walked through the story, I saw them and imagined her fear. As I walked the last twenty paces of the woman's life, I stepped into her shoes. I wondered if she thought during those last twenty steps that she'd like a chance to do it all over. Probably not. She didn't know they were her final steps. As I looked at where she'd been disposed of I wondered if she'd died immediately from her wounds or how much she'd suffered.
I'm only a few years older now than she was when she died. I had so looked forward to my 30th birthday. She never reached hers. I worry about fine lines appearing around my eyes. She never had the chance to cultivate any. I frown in the mirror at the gray hairs appearing in my hair. She will never have a gray hair.
I feel connected to her and I think that is partly because someone should still grieve for her. Someone should care about justice even after almost two decades. The male victim's family is involved in the prosecution and still outraged at his murder. His family is demanding justice. But her family... her family wrote her off a LONG time ago - even before she died. They demand nothing of me or my office. Normally we would embrace a little silence from victim's families, but it's just so silent for her. I am sad for her. Sure she was living a lifestyle that almost guarantees a short life span, but she didn't die from an accidental overdose or suicide. While these two murders changed the lives of all the conspirators and turned them into law abiding citizens in the last two decades, she didn't have a chance to turn it all around. She was murdered in cold blood with malice aforethought.
Sure she and I would never have been friends. We're from two different worlds, two different class stratas, and two different families. However, shouldn't SOMEONE still weep for her? Shouldn't SOMEONE be pushing for justice even after all these years? Shouldn't SOMEONE? The answer is yes and so I will shed a few tears for this woman I'll never know and with whom I wouldn't have been friends with even if I had known her and I will demand justice.
Pic from www.pirata.com
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