I was at a Christmas party and an acquaintance of mine is friend (I don't know how close) of Reade's parents.
She said they were confident of the outcome, but that the family is cash strapped right now due to the mounting legal bills, which she was told would boggle your mind!
this is second hand so take for what it's worth. But I can see it being true!
It is so sad, I hope these families can sue someone to get back all they have lost financially as well as their kids reputations!!!!
Trust me, been there, done that -- you won't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of -- even if you made a nice living. It goes FAST, but what are you going to do when they are holding your child hostage? You pay. After the smoke clears, you try to catch up on the mortgage payments, credit cards and then you pray every night to live long enough to pay it all off, plus give the kid a chance in life to finish his education.
You don't have to qualify your information as to it being second hand, just think what you would do if you suddenly had to come up with in excess of $35,000.00, plus bail, plus investigators, plus deposition costs -- for a minor felony charge. This was a major with incredibly far reaching recriminations. I knew what these poor families were going to have to endure, then try to put gifts under the tree for Christmas, send the rest of the kids to school, continue to parent the balance of the children, sleep with an eye open at night to make sure the hostage wouldn't throw in the towel and put on your game face for the rest of the world -- because if you look down or out to lunch at any given moment, they think you're a whiner.
My heart is in my prayers for them every night -- my love for them is deep and sincere.