Updates, Thoughts and a Timeline: David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden, November 29, 2005

All Info About ^ | November 29, 2005 | Bill Bickel

[Gondring]

Updates, Thoughts and a Timeline: David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden, November 29, 2005

by Bill Bickel

"Sources close to the case" say that the prosecution isn't inclined to ask for the death penalty because of Ludwig's age and the lack of any prior offenses. Personally, I'd think that when you're considering a premeditated cold-blooded double murder, "prior offenses" is fairly irrelevant; after all, what previous offenses would even remotely approach the seriousness of the current charges?

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Yesterday, a Lancaster County (PA) judge, in response to a request made by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Hackman, ordered that four web sites owned by Kara Beth Borden be preserved -- one of which contains an online discussion apparently between Kara Beth and a friend, who disapproves of Kara Beth's sexual relationship with Ludwig and writes "obviously you tow dont care nuff that David may go to jail [sic]," referring to the possibility of statutory rape charges.

There are also reports that Kara Beth, or somebody using her password, has already deleted portions of these sites.

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The media seems to be going out of its way to avoid the issue -- and indeed we feel more comfortable, especially post-Elizabeth Smart, to think of pretty, blonde 14-year-old girls as victims -- but the version of the story we're being told, in which Kara Beth Borden didn't ask her 18-year-old boyfriend David Ludwig to kill her parents, took no part in the planning, and had no idea he was going to do it, just doesn't add up. Of course, more details might emerge that will make her story more credible, but for now... It doesn't.

Friends and neighbors say they know Kara Beth, and there's no way she could have had a part in something like this; but then, nobody thought David Ludwig was a double homicide waiting to happen, either (not even, supposedly, Kara Beth).

Laci Peterson's family said it was impossible that Scott could have anything to do with Laci's disappearance (until they found out about Amber Frey, which still seems to me an insufficient reason to jump from "He's not involved" to "He killed our daughter"), and Lori Hacking's family discounted the possibility (at first) that Mark Hacking had anything to do with Lori's disappearance. In hindsight, of course, both Laci and Lori's families are able to recount any number of acts of suspicious and ominous behavior.

Still, for a 14-year-old girl, from what was apparently a stable, Christian family, to be in any way complicit in her parents' murder seems hard to believe. But consider what we're being asked to believe instead: Her boyfriend shot down her parents in cold blood, to her complete surprise, and her reaction was to run after his car to ride away with him, leaving her 13-year-old sister and 9-year-old brother behind with the bodies of their parents. I find that harder to accept and, if anything, even more cold-blooded.

Here's a thought: When Ludwig was arrested November 24, he told police he acted alone, and Kara Beth told them she hadn't been kidnapped. Neither statement was made public for another week, and in fact investigators made a point of repeating that they didn't know whether Kara Beth had been abducted or had gone with Ludwig willingly. It could be that they suspected one or both of the statements might be self-serving: his, to exonerate her; hers, to spare him from a kidnapping charge that could be the difference between the prosecution asking for the death penalty or not.

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This timeline was updated November 29. Several details have become less rather than more clear, because of contradictory "facts" being made public

• Spring, 2005: David Ludwig takes a girlfriend, without her parents' permission, to his family's hunting cabin. There are reports that he had $10,000 with him. No additional information has been made public. This cabin is one of the places law enforcement searched after Ludwig and Kara Beth went missing.

• May, 2005: David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden meet at a support group for home-schooled children. They both come from self-described Christian families in Lititz, Pennsylvania, in Lancaster County.

• In the months that follow, their relationship becomes intimate and they exchange, online, what authorities call "inappropriate" photos. According to friends, they've been having sex and Ludwig has been sneaking into the Borden home at night. According to a friend of Kara Beth's parents, they temporarily cut off Kara Beth's Internet access because of this relationship.

• One of Ludwig's laptops contains a video showing Ludwig and his friend Samuel Lohr armed with weapons and driving to an unidentified house, and discussing "an armed forcible entry." While walking back to the car, they discuss having sex with Kara Beth and her 13-year-old sister Katelyn, that this would constitute statutory rape, and they might have to shoot "Jonathan" if he found out about it (no indication who Jonathan is).

• A local newspaper was told that on November 11, two days before the murders and alleged abduction, Ludwig told friends that he believed he could "kill somebody and get away with it."

• November 12, 2005: According to courttv.com, Ludwig asked the webmaster of his skateboarding-related blog to "block" the blog so that nobody could find it by searching for either his name or Kara Beth's. Whether this was in anticipation of a sudden notoriety is, of course, speculation (but implied in the courttv.com article)

• November 12, 2005: Kara Beth, age 14, and Ludwig, age 18, spend the night at Ludwig's house. According to neighbors, she'd told her parents she was going to be at a sleepover party at a girlfriend's house.

• November 13, 2005, about 5:30am: Ludwig drives Kara Beth home. Kara Beth always text-messaged Ludwig to let him know she'd made it to her bedroom without being detected. This time she doesn't, and doesn't respond to his messages. 

• November 13, 2005, about 6:15am: Ludwig reaches Kara Beth. She tells him her parents had caught her sneaking in, and want to speak to him. Ludwig leaves his home carrying a .40-caliber Glock automatic pistol -- later identified as the murder weapon -- plus another gun and a hunting knife.

• November 13, 2005, about 7:00am: Ludwig arrives at the Borden home. According to neighbors, Michael Borden, Kara Beth's father, tells Ludwig to leave his weapons outside (it's not clear if this is true, how Ludwig came to have the murder weapon inside the house. Possibly, since the Glock was tucked into the waistband of his pants, Borden didn't know he had it). Ludwig and Borden talk for between 30 and 45 minutes, and Borden tells Ludwig he can't see Kara Beth anymore.

• November 13, 2005, just before 8:00am: According to Ludwig, and confirmed by Katelyn's account, Ludwig then shoots Borden in the back with the .40-caliber Glock automatic pistol. Ludwig then shoots Kara Beth's mother, Cathryn Borden. This is according to Ludwig's own statement ("I shot mom as she was sitting in a chair... It was an intentional murder, I intended to shoot them, and I did"). Katelyn hears the shot that kills her mother, but she is hiding in the bathroom at the time.

• Authorities say the gunshots woke Katelyn, which contradicts her initial account. Also: Several accounts list her age as 15 rather than 13.

• Ludwig said he then looked for Kara Beth (Katelyn says she heard him calling for her). He says he began driving away in his parents' red Volkswagen Jetta when he saw her running down the road toward him. She told him (and she confirms this in her own statement to police) she wanted to "get away as far as possible, get married, and start a new life")

• According to the Associated Press, court documents indicate that Kara Beth didn't know her parents were dead until Ludwig tells her, as they were driving away, that he'd shot them and he thought he'd killed them. However, Kara Beth certainly heard the gunshots, and Ludwig made it clear in his initial statement to police that he's a crack shot.

• Both Kara Beth and Ludwig threw their cell phones out the car windows as they drove off.

• Kara Beth's 9-year-old brother David phones police for a neighbor's home. The Bordens' bodies are found and an Amber Alert is posted for Kara Beth, who is assumed to be a kidnapping victim.

• November 14, 2005: In Indiana, 600 miles away from Lititz, the teens are recognized by Amanda Workman, the manager of a Subways sandwich shop, who phones the police (Workman later says Kara Beth's "face was all puffy, her eyes were puffy, ... You could tell she was crying.''). A 5-mile chase ensues, involving speeds up to 95mph. Several cars reportedly run into ditches avoiding Ludwig's car, and finally Ludwig drives into a tree and is arrested (neither teen was hurt).

• Ludwig had cut his hair to about one inch length; "like he had shaved his head," Workman said.

• At the time of Ludwig's arrest, according to court papers released November 21, Ludwig confessed to the murders and told police where to find the murder weapon (under the driver's seat of the car; also found in the car, according to media reports: clothing, maps, a Colt 45 pistol, a Ruger 45 semiautomatic pistol, and a Ruger mini 14 rifle); and Kara Beth told them she hadn't kidnapped, but had gone along with Ludwig willingly (several days after the arrest, Ludwig's attorneys filed court papers claiming that surveillance photos from stores he and Kara Beth entered Sunday and Monday indicate that Kara Beth was not in fact a kidnap victim). Until November 21, police continue to publicly consider Kara Beth a kidnap victim.

• November 15, 2005: Ludwig and Kara Beth are returned to Pennsylvania: he under arrest and she placed in care of relatives along with her siblings. Ludwig is arraigned on two counts of criminal homicide, one count of reckless endangerment and one count of kidnapping (prosecutors have since confirmed that they intend to drop the kidnapping charge at Ludwig's preliminary hearing). He doesn't enter a plea, and is ordered held without bail.

• As of the evening of November 15, police were still saying that Kara Beth hadn't been questioned yet and they had no idea whether she'd in fact been kidnapped. How this fits in with the November 21 statement that she'd answered this question on the 14th is unclear.

• The search of Ludwig's home turns up 54 firearms.

• According to a court affidavit, a police computer expert claims to have found nearly 400 pieces of "possible evidence" on Ludwig's two laptop computers.

• Prosecutors have not announced whether they'll seek the death penalty against Ludwig. There was speculation that this decision might depend on whether Kara Beth's abduction could be an aggravating factor -- but presumably they already knew that at the very least, Kara Beth claims she went along willingly.

• "Sources close to the case" say that the prosecution isn't inclined to ask for the death penalty because of Ludwig's age and the lack of any previous offenses. 

• November 21: The prosecution files court documents stating that when Ludwig was arrested on November 15, he confessed to the murders and Kara Beth stated that she hadn't been kidnapped.

• Ludwig's preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 16.

[Gondring]

Some interesting points herein that I haven't seen elsewhere.

[Gondring]

ping

[jocon307]

"Laci Peterson's family said it was impossible that Scott could have anything to do with Laci's disappearance (until they found out about Amber Frey, which still seems to me an insufficient reason to jump from "He's not involved" to "He killed our daughter"

I always thought that was a quick leap too. However, not quite so big a leap as Scott killing Laci because he'd gotten involved with Amber Frey.

This case is crazy too. Here are my questions: why was this kid permitted to have an arsenal of weapons? who the heck has 2 laptops? how did he come to have 10 grand in cash, ever? why have we heard nothing from/about his parents? All this skateboarding and weaponry and staying out late and fooling around with girls, it don't sound too Christian to me, and that's before the murders, obviously.

[MizSterious]

One of the Court TV commentators keeps saying that "unless" she helped him with the planning or the murders or the escape, she would not be guilty of anything. Stunning, isn't it, that they could say that? Of course she helped him get away! She doubtless stepped over her bleeding, dying parents to run after him, and probably did whatever she could to help him escape.

That said, I also think she might have been in on the murder planning.

[penowa]

Why bother asking for the death penalty in PA when an 18 yr. old is more likely to die of old age than be executed?

[Gondring]

This case is crazy too. Here are my questions: why was this kid permitted to have an arsenal of weapons?

First of all...you use the term "kid"...but this was a man. He was legal to vote, etc. So when you ask "why was he permitted," the answer is, "because this is America."

Besides, the term "arsenal" is a loaded one (no pun intended). Many of the weapons seized were his family's, I'm sure, and I urge you to beware falling into the MSM's trap. Quite likely, there were hunting rifles, pistols, etc.

who the heck has 2 laptops?

Many people. If you look at his blog, you'd see that he worked at Circuit City and got discounted ones, and had perhaps intended to return one.

how did he come to have 10 grand in cash, ever?

Having a job and not having to pay rent is one helpful way to get cash. Secondly, a rumored report was that it wasn't all his own cash.

why have we heard nothing from/about his parents?

What would you expect them to say?

All this skateboarding and weaponry and staying out late and fooling around with girls, it don't sound too Christian to me, and that's before the murders, obviously.

Well, a friend of his said that he hadn't been "right with the Lord" lately, and questioned whether he was truly Christian or just used that to get the girls. But as for having weapons...

Then said [Jesus] unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.--Luke 22:36 (KJV)

(Of course, in Luke 22:38..."And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough." :-)

[Gondring]

Because we might someday get a real governor?

[OldFriend]

I never allowed my children to sleep over at anyone's home without comfirming first with the parents that an adult would be present.

Evidently this girl's mother and father allowed her to have a 'sleepover' despite the trouble they'd had with her previous behaviour.

None of this story makes sense.

We are not our children's 'friends' we are their protectors, often against their own wishes and demands.

[Cedar]

Thanks for giving us an update.

I feel so sorry for the young ones who now have no mom or dad (and had to see such horror take place).

[jocon307]

LOL, I liked your last parenthetical comment.

I'm not sure this 18 year old can really be considered "a man" if he was still living under his parents' roof. And I had a time in my life when I had a job, but no bills, it would still have been quite a challenge for me to come up with 10 large, and if it wasn't all his money, who's was it, and why did he have it.

Fine, maybe his family has an arsenal (a loaded word, but perfectly accurate, say a sh*t load if you prefer) but still, why is the son running around armed to the teeth? We see how it turned out, no? In order to shoot men in the back and "mom in the chair", evidently, manifestly.

I'd expect his parents to be referenced, even if they don't make a comment.

[Gondring]

LOL, I liked your last parenthetical comment.

:-)

why is the son running around armed to the teeth?

Because he didn't care about violating the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

But does it really matter whether he had one or one-hundred guns? And when you think of what guns many families have in rural Pennsylvania, I don't think this was out of line. Consider a .22 for small game and plinking; a goose gun; a deer rifle; a few handguns for carry, concealed carry, and target; plus miscellaneous...and you have many per person. I bet there are many FReepers with more guns than this whole family. I don't see many cases like this one from fols with "arsenals"..and it seems that there are as many from people without "arsenals"...so I don't think having an "arsenal" causes it.

I believe the parents have been referenced elsewhere, but recall, the suspect is 18, not a minor.

[Gondring]

Thanks for giving us an update.

You're welcome.

I feel so sorry for the young ones who now have no mom or dad (and had to see such horror take place).

Me too. They have seen evil firsthand, and can't find comfort with their parents.

I'm wondering what Miss Borden told Mr. Ludwig about her parents. Was it typical teenage rebellion against them and seeing them as deserving to die? Did she give allegations of abuse? I do hope we hear updates of this, to find out her involvement and what it might have taken to send this young man into his admitted killings.

[twigs]

I wouldn't be too hard on the parents; they sound like good ones. But as careful as I was, I wasn't perfect. Even the best parents can't prevent sneaky kids from getting away with things they shouldn't.

[Cedar]

"what it might have taken to send this young man into his admitted killings."

I've noticed with almost all of the young murderers that they are pretty heavy into drugs...also either occult involvement (the family usually unaware) and/or extremely violent video games.

The media always tries to play down any occultic involvement by criminals. So lots of parents don't realize the combination of drugs and the occult can cause people (even children) to do terribly violent acts which normally they would never commit.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

This case is so strange. Ludwig and Kara are so cold-blooded. Has anyone heard where Kara and her brothers and sisters are staying now?

[Tired of Taxes]

Wow, they only just met in May? That means that, in a mere 7 months, she met him, became sexually involved with him, and decided he was the one for her after he murdered her parents (who cared for her for 14 years). Just seven months and one 18yo sociopath, and she completely brushed off her parents' 14 years of love and care for her...