Know who it is your kids hang out with

There is a trial going on right now that I would like to attend. One that hit too close to home. In April of 2006 my oldest stepson started talking about a new friend Taylor. We had never heard him mention the name before so I was asking him some questions about Taylor. (Call me nosey but I want to know who it is our kids hang out with) From what he told me about him he seemed like an ok kid but we had yet to meet him. About a month later on a weekend we had my husband's boys my oldest stepson asked if he could spend the night with Taylor. My husband and I are night and day when it comes to our kids. I am extremely over protective and my husband is not so much. He immediately told Brad that he could spend the night with Taylor but I chimmed in and said we don't know the parents or if they are going to be home etc. I insisted my husband call Taylor's parents to get the scoop. My husband talked to Taylor's mom who told us that she was aware of Brad coming over to spend the night and that her and her husband would be home the whole evening. When Sean dropped Brad off at Taylor's house, Taylor's mom Pam, came out to my husband's truck and introduced herself. When Sean got back home he told me that Taylor's mom was very nice and that they seemed like good people. After that weekend we didn't hear Brad talk much about Taylor anymore. I inquired if he was still hanging out with him and he told me that he was but not as often as before.

Two months later as I am flipping through the channels on the TV I see a blurb about what would be coming up on the evening news and it stated there was a murder in Grain Valley. Grain Valley is where Brad lives. It is a small, somewhat country town. Murders don't happen in Grain Valley. A few hours later Brad shows up at our house and could barely speak. He asked us if we heard about the murder in Grain Valley and he kept saying, "It was Taylor!". I immediately began thinking how to help Brad deal with this. He had lost two friends already this year and now another. Brad wasn't making alot of sense as we tried to understand what he was saying. His words were not coming out clearly and he was all chocked up. Then finally he says...."Dad, Taylor is the one that did it! He killed his mom!". Shock went through my body. We just let our son go spend the night with a boy that killed someone and not just someone his own mother!!! I was so consumed with making sure the parents were fit enough to allow Brad to spend the night at their house and didn't even think to question the kid he was hanging out with. After that I was forever changed as a parent. I was already over protective of our kids and now I was in super over drive.

As the story came out, there was another boy from Brad's school who was also at Taylor's house who the police are saying is the one that actually did the killing. They also attempted to kill Taylor's step father but he survived. The two boys took off in one of Taylor's parents cars and were located two days later in Colorado. The trial that is going on now is for Eddie, the other kid, who is being charged with the murder. Taylor's trial will be in August. They both are pointing the finger at each other. The prosecutors are saying the idea was Taylor's and Eddie did the killing. The boys were both 16 at the time of the murder and are being tried as adults. I really hope they both get the maxium punishment. This was absolutely uncalled for and a terrible crime. I will keep you posted.