Posted on 11/16/2005 4:45:54 PM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
A church official said it may be impossible to understand why a couple were slain in their home Sunday, saying "only God knows the purpose of this."
Michael and Cathryn Borden were killed allegedly by their daughter's 18-year-old boyfriend.
Police say David Ludwig shot the Bordens in the head and fled to Indiana with their 14-year-old daughter, Kara Beth.
He was captured there Tuesday following a high-speed chase and was flown back to Lancaster County to face murder and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against him.
Ludwig was jailed without bail and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 23. Messages left at the public defender's office, which is representing Ludwig, weren't returned Wednesday, but attorneys planned a news conference later in the day.
The congregation at the Bordens' church planned a Wednesday evening prayer service.
"The Lord works within each of us in different ways, and only God knows the purpose of this," said George Landis, Monterey Chapel elder.
"Only the Lord knows what purposes are really being brought out here. But Mike and Cathy are in a better place."
Kara was reunited with her surviving family members Tuesday after returning to Pennsylvania in a separate plane.
District Attorney Donald Totaro said Kara Borden's role in what happened was still under investigation but added that he did not want "to imply in any way that we believe that she had any role or participated in the homicide."
Ludwig and Kara were home-schooled teenagers from Lititz, a small town about an hour west of Philadelphia.
Kara's 13-year-old sister, Katelyn, told investigators her parents were shot after they argued with Ludwig for about an hour, according to an affidavit filed in court. She said she ran into the bathroom and heard Ludwig running through the house calling for Kara.
The girls' 9-year-old brother ran to the neighbors, who called 911.
sw
That seems so harsh. If he were my kid, I'd want him to know that no matter what he did, I still love him. I'm a terrible cream puff, huh? Your attitude is probably better, at least for smaller infractions before the time the kid flips out and does anything irrevocable. But after the fact? He'd still be your kid, after all. Wouldn't you consider the possibility that he's extremely sorry, remorseful, and terrified? Goldring, parenting was never easy for me. You?
Somehow I can't picture him being frightened and confused.
You don't think she'll go? If she doesn't, local people won't give her the benefit of the doubt.
I think he's sorry, remorseful, and terrified that he's going to jail for life, and he won't be with Kara anymore.
I agree. See post #44
You're undoubtedly correct. I must admit I parented like a liberal. But Phew! the kids turned out OK.
Cindy, isn't it strange that many of the children that compete in the National Spelling Bee are home schooled? That's a plus.
They are trying to analyze the boy with "signs". What they fail to come to terms with is that this kid just "snapped". There is not always a fatal first time as in this tragic case.
sw
Monterey Chapel? Is this some kind of small cult or a recognized denomination?
I think that she forgot it.
Very good and logical post.
In the past three months, we have had three incidents like this. There was that adopted boy in the Midwest and his friend who shot the boy's parents and killed them i cold blood. They attended a private Lutheran school.
Then there was the kid in California who brutally murdered the lawyer's wife. He was a public school kid.
Now this. The boy happens to be a homeschooler.
There are good kids and bad kids in all religions and all environments.
What we need to address is the immediate resort to violence in these yopung people. Get to the cause of it and try to work from there.
The internet was heavily used by all these murderous teens. All of them had "Goth" leanings.
I would like to know if he was on any medications. It's no excuse but it's also something we as a nation don't seem to want to look into. He sounded kind of down in those two posts.
sw
Well, I work in the justice system, and I've heard a lot of anecdotal stories about this person and that person who "just snapped," and you often hear the neighbors of the mass murderer on TV saying, "I can't understand it, he was such a nice boy." But when you actually get the parties into court, you find that that is almost never the case.
Put people under oath, and subpoena medical records, and you usually find that somebody like this has a long history of mental problems, run-ins with the law, or both. I would not be at all surprised to hear that this boy has had numerous previous encounters with juvy. Those records are often sealed or confidential, but in a case like this they will come out. In fact the defense will probably use them to try to mount an insanity/diminished capacity defense.
I often hear the "just snapped" argument in support of gun control or some other repressive plan. Think about it -- if people can "just snap", would you trust ANYbody with a firearm . . . makes a good argument for gun control, I suppose, but if it were true there would be daily murders in the streets as people "snapped" over this and that.
What's going on is usually frantic denial on the part of everybody who knew the kid and didn't connect the dots and is now feeling guilty that they didn't speak up.
I think what you say here is very important...get to the root cause of an immediate resort to violence...my hubby and I were just talking about this today...
When we were growing up, you had a crush on someone, your parents did not approve, you were not allowed to date that particular person, and if todays teens are anything like I was, you think your world is going to end if you cannot date that person...but you got over it, in my day, long ago as that was...we respected what our parents expected of us, and even if we did not like it in the short run, I think we realize that in the long run, we knew our parents had our best interests at heart...the thought of becoming violent and bent on murder, just never entered our minds...
So, what exactly is the root problem here?...I suspect, its a myriad of things...
His parents haven't stepped forward yet, (poor people) so we don't know what's up with them either.
From the moment he was summoned to their house, he just went Crazy knowing what they were going to tell him. That's why he took the guns. He couldn't have been thinking clearly about the consequences of blowing them away. He wasn't thinking at all.
He killed the parents, instead of himself.
sw
He knew how to pull a trigger, he knew how to hunt. Are we going to make something out of that?
I am sure we will hear someone say he lost his temper at such and such a time or place, but I don't think THIS could have been predicted, but someone will dispute that.
PS..I am NOT defending his actions in anyway..
I read that. Kara seems to be saying that she and the boyfriend have a plan, which they will carry out if this friend tells their parents they are having sex.
I hate reading these kids' blogs. They are so crude and disrespectful towards the parents who have given them everything--including the computers, cellphones, and blackberry devices that keep them in constant contact with those who are bad influences.
Parents have to wake up.
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