I've been feeling crappy for a couple of days. Luckily, it was the weekend and I was able to take it easy. I decided to go to sleep early so I would be rested to start work on Monday, but around 10:30 PM, my brain started getting the better of me.
For some reason, I woke up thinking about a girl I knew who had been murdered almost 25 years ago. I couldn't even remember her full name, so naturally I had to go pull out my eighth grade yearbook and look her up. Yes, I keep my eighth grade yearbook with my photo albums in a bookcase in the living room. Don't judge me, eighth grade was one of my best years.
Anyway, I doubt I'm going back to sleep any time, soon. I've tried searching for the story on both Google and Yahoo!, but cannot find anything. The biggest paper in the area only has online archives dating back to 1992. I know someone who works for that paper, and just sent them an email asking for assistance.
I haven't thought about this girl in years. Why would I wake up feeling like I need to tell this story? I don't want to half-ass it, and cannot rely on my 14 year old self's memory to tell it correctly.
I'm also extremely curious to find out if her killer made parole. He was my neighbor across the street when I was in eighth grade, and I went to parties at his house. This guy and his wife were pure white trash, entertaining underage kids drinking and smoking pot, while their young children were around. They were probably 15-20 years older than we were. It would be easy to say that the 80's was a permissive time, but I know better, now.
Sometimes talking things out, or in this case writing them out, helps to clarify things in my mind. I often only think about things from my past as I'm reliving them from a parent's point of view. While my son is the same age I was when this girl was murdered, our lives are completely different. I'm making sure of that.
I'm confused, and tired. If I don't hear back from the lady that works at the newspaper, does anyone have an idea how I would go about finding old newspaper articles? Do I sound really stupid? Can I just go to the lie-berry and look stuff up on micro-fiche? Does that stuff even still exist?
1 day ago
9 comments:
Try the library.
I'm curious to hear the story now and find out why you thought of it now.
You could try googeling the name of the guy who murdered her...
Jodi, that's a great idea, but I can't remember his name!
There is a reason you are thinking about her, I'm sure of it. Try the library and see what your friend at the papers says. I bet you figure out why as you investigate.
Hey, I gave you an award on my blog.
I'm going with...go to the lie-berry.
And I think there's always a reason stuff like this crosses our minds. Follow it...and then tell us about it, because it looks like we're all curious. ;)
Definitely the library and utilize the librarian. That is what they are trained to do.
Good luck-I am interested in the follow up to this post.
Yes, you can try the library, or you can just go directly to the newspaper and look at their archives, if it's near you.
I understand completely why this came out of left field for you. You never got any real closure and it was very traumatic. I know you said your neighbor killed her, but was she his kid?
I like the Li-berry idea. As for the killer, most police departments are kind enough to have a "Who's In Jail" site. You might check that. I had questions about an old murder once and sent an e-mail to Ann Rule - she's a crime writer and has a website.
I popped over from Bella's - Congratulations on your award!
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