YOU AND I, AND A MULTITUDE OF OTHERS, HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR THIS DAY . SEVEN LONG YEARS, SEVEN VERY DIFFICULT, VERY PAINFUL, AND VERY TRAGIC YEARS. NOT A DAY HAS GONE BY THAT YOU WERE NOT ON MY MIND AND IN MY SOUL, SINCE I FIRST LEARNED THE UNSPEAKABLE CRUELTY AND INDIGNITY YOUR LITTLE BODY AND INCREDIBLE SPIRIT SUFFERED THAT MIDNIGHT IN FEBRUARY OF 1993, IN A MOTEL ROOM RIGHT HERE IN KANSAS CITY. . . UNDER THE LAME EXCUSE THAT YOU COULD NOT RECITE YOUR ABC'S. WHICH ONE OF ANY OF US IN ALL THE HUMAN RACE, CHILD OR ADULT, COULD HAVE DONE A TASK OF THIS DETAIL--OR REMEMBER ANY ORDER OF SUCH THINGS--THROUGH THE SHEER TERROR OF BEING SO DEFENSELESSLY AND CRUELLY JOLTED OUT OF SLEEP AT THE HAND OF AN ADRENALIN-PUMPED DRUNKARD?.
FOR ANY HUMAN "LET ALONE A BEAUTIFUL CHILD--TO DIE AT THE HAND OF A CALLOUS MURDERER, BEATING ON THE FRAGILE HEART OF AN INNOCENT LITTLE GIRL, THEN INTENTIONALLY DROWNING THAT BLAMELESS CHILD . . . SUCH RAPE OF THE MIND, SUCH UNTHINKABLE SAVAGERY, CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED TO ANY OF GOD'S CHILDREN. YOU, MY SWEET ANGEL, SUFFERED THE WORST ATROCITY THE SOUL CAN SUFFER. YET, THE INDIGNITIES DID NOT STOP THERE. YOUR HUMAN REMAINS LAID ALONE AND UNDISCOVERED FOR SEVEN LONG YEARS, BOUND IN CONCRETE, THROWN LIKE YESTERDAY'S TRASH TO BURN IN THE INTENSE DESERT HEAT. .
GOD HAD MERCY ON YOU, THOUGH, AND BROUGHT THE HEAVY RAINS THAT YEAR, TO COVER YOUR CRUDE TOMB WITH PROTECTIVE BRUSH, TO GIVE YOU PEACE AND PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION IN THAT PLACE, AS HE ONCE COVERED JONAH FROM THE SUN'S RUTHLESS PENETRATION. GOD PRESERVED YOU THUS FOR US TO FIND YOU, EVENTUALLY, IN HIS TIMING.
AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF ANGUISHED SEARCHING AND WONDERING BY THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE LOVING YOU, MOURNING YOU, AND SEEKING YOUR REMAINS FOR EVIDENCE OF THE TRAGEDY YOU ENDURED, GOD SAW FIT TO BRING CLOSURE TO THE MISERY OF YOUR BRIEF LIFE ON EARTH. GOD, IN HIS LOVING, TENDER MERCY, CAME TO THE AID OF OUR FRAIL HUMAN ATTEMPTS TO BRING JUSTICE TO YOUR LIFE AND DEATH, BUT ONLY AFTER YOUR LIFE HAD INDELIBLY MARKED OURS.
