From 1974 to 1980 life was just the same old 

thing with nothing exciting or bad happening. Until 

one day my husband came home and said we were going 

to move to a house. His friend had asked him if we 

would move in because he couldn't keep anyone in it. 

Why you ask? It had a tenant that was of the dead 

persuasion.lol! In other words a ghost. Needless to 

say I had my doubts but what the heck it wouldn't be 

the first one I met. And probably not the last.


     The kids were happy to have a big yard to play 

in and I was happy to be able to plant flowers. Plus 

we could now have a dog so we got a beautiful German 

Shepard named Pele' from Leanev Berguinsky who was 

special Advisor to President Carter.


     So, life went on as usual until Oct. 29th. 1981 

when my world turned up side down. This part is very 

hard for me to talk about mainly because of the pain 

and loss of memory.

     The day started out as usual by getting 
the kids off to school.  Let me back track a little.
 The day 
before I had a premonition of a car accident and 

death. Chris had to walk to school and cross the 

street so I thought he was the one in danger. That 

morning I walked him to school and as 
we were getting ready to cross the street 
 a car came out of the side street
 and was hit by a van.
 No one was hurt bad 
thank goodness
 but I thought that was what the 
premonition
 was about and I had saved my son. Later 

that day I was waiting for the kids to
 come home from school when the phone rang.
 It wasa friend of Richies wanting him to
 come over to his house.
 I told him he 
wasn't home yet
 and I would tell him when he got 

home. I never liked this kid because there was 

something wrong with him. Have you ever met someone 

who had...how should I say this...a look of evil in 

their eyes? Well his did, they were so cold and full 

of hate. Even our dog would not go near him and he 

liked everyone. Allegedly his mother committed 

suicide some years before by shooting herself in the 

chest with a rifle. I don't think so 
because even the Commonwealths Attorney said 
there were no powder 
burns on her
 or her clothing and there would be if 

she shot herself. Plus the kid sat in my kitchen a 

few weeks before and said he could commit murder and 

get away with it.

     Any ways he kept calling and when Richie got 

home I told him that he had been calling so Richie 

called him. I reminded Richie that he was going some 

place with his father and he shouldn't go but Richie 

sad he would be right back. A half hour 
or so I got a call from the kids father
 saying my son had shot 
himself.
 I asked him if he called the paramedics and 

he said yes, but it was a lie. Then I called my 

husband at work and told him to get over there right

away and he did.It took him about 15 minutes to get 

there and by that time the cops and rescue were 

there. They wouldn't let him see Richie but he told 

them he would turn the dog on them if they didn't. 

Pele' was a trained attack dog by then and a lot of 

the cops worked for my husband as security guards in 

his buildings so they knew this. Plus I'm sure they 

felt sorry for him so they let him in. I can't 

imagine what it was like finding his son lying on
 the kitchen floor on a pool of blood dead.
 If it had been me I would have gone out of my mind.
 Anyways he is 
the one who noticed that it wasn't suicide. 
Richie 
was left handed and they had put
 the gun in his right hand. 
There were other things he noticed but I can't 

remember what they were.
 I don't remember this from that time,
 I have heard it many times afterwards.


     Most of everything after that is a fuzzy blur.
I remember bits and pieces like the detectives being there
 asking questions about something and after that 
I completely shut down.
 I do remember seeing Richie in his coffin
 and saying that it wasn't him
 and Chris writing a note to put with Richie saying
 " I love you" and his teddybear so he wouldn't be lonesome.
 I know a lot of people came to the funeral.
 All his teachers from the first grade up where there 
at one time or another and all his friends. 
I must have seen them but I don't remember.

     A few months later there was a trial in juvenile court
 because the boy who killed Richie was fourteen years old.
 All they found him guilty of was involuntary 
manslaughter. He never spent one day in jail.
 His father did put him a mental institution for 
a year but that was so they couldn't lock him up.
 One little foot note,
 as the kid walked out of court he looked at us 
 grinned and stuck his tongue out at us.
 Shortly after that he disappeared,
 we dont know what happened to him 
and I don't care. My only hope is that God 
will give him what he deserves.

     Our lives slowly took on a more normal tone. 
I finally stoped having periods of missing time. 
My husband got a new job and Chris, well he was never the same.
 His health got worse and he started having behavior problems. 
It took a long time for him to get better.
 He is not the person he would have been if this had never happened. 
But then neither am I.