Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Deliver Us From Evil


Last Friday I asked for prayers for the family and friends of Ashton Glover, the young girl on the left, whose body was found in a muddy field in our neighborhood. She was only 16. Two of her high school classmates were stopped at Port Huron, Michigan as they tried to escape into Canada after her body was found.

Yesterday one of them was returned to the Fort Bend County jail. The other suspect is fighting extradition from Michigan .

Local law enforcement officials held a press conference.

At the press conference, they revealed that the young man told them he shot Ashton in the head "out of morbid curiosity". Then he and the other teenager left her body in the field while they went to the local IHOP for breakfast. After eating, they returned to the field, dug a shallow grave and buried the body. When the body was found, they fled to Michigan, hoping to escape the country ahead of the police. Both boys are 18 and will be tried as adults. At this point it does not look like capital charges can be made against them because there the murder wasn't made in conjunction with another felony--just committed out of "morbid curiosity" about what it is like to shoot someone in the head.

Throughout the area, there are white ribbons tied to trees in the esplanades in Ashton's memory. The tribute in the photo above was created with Dixie cups placed in the fence around the tennis court at the neighborhood's Middle School. Marquees at all the local elementary, middle and high schools announce that a spaghetti supper fundraser will be held this evening at her high school to raise money to help her family pay for her funeral.
I didn't know this girl, the boys or her family. But I know people who do. And you don't need a personal connection to this tragedy to be appalled and horrified at the evil manifested here. Has murder become just another everyday happening to these teenagers?

For: "...the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth..." Genesis 8:21

Lord, deliver us from evil. Evil that hardens our hearts. Evil that devalues life. Evil that encourages morbid curiosity.

UPDATE (7/20/06): Russell Smith at The Eagle and Child wrote a thoughtful commentary, " A Call for Sanity, please!" on this post here.

He asks an important question: What can we do together about the culture of death manifested in teen-focused entertainment? I look forward to your comments on his blog or here. Thank you, Russell.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

How very morbid, and sad for her, her family, her friends.

Pink Shoes said...

Deliver us, indeed. There really aren't even words to describe it, are there?

reverendmother said...

So sorry to hear this.

Once again I say, anyone who doubts the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity just isn't paying attention.

Jody Harrington said...

RM--Exactly.

Anonymous said...

There are no words to make sense of it.

A young man was recently murdered in Georgetown here by a pack of younger guys who slit his throat, tried to rape his companion, took her purse, went to ATM machine, and then used the cash to catch a snack at Wendy's. They were arrested promptly and yet what punishment can make it right?

I'm so sorry for your community and the families involved. Again -- no words make it make sense.

Anonymous said...

Item #36529 for how today's culture of death impacts society.

ora pro nobis peccatoribus

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

There are so many unbelievable parts to this story. He shot her out of "morbid curiosity?" And the boys left her lying in a field while they ate pancakes? And they buried her in a shallow gravef---AND THEY WERE SO STUPID (or whatever) that they thought they would not be caught?

Unbelievable, and very frightening.

Yes, murder seems to have become commonplace.

Deliver us, O Lord!

will smama said...

evil

period

Anonymous said...

I feel sick. They murdered her out of morbid curiosity and then ate pancakes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Lord. Have mercy on me. I want to rip them into little pieces and flush them down the toilet. So help me God, I do