On November 29, 1969, little 12-year-old Kathy worked hard around the house to earn a dollar to go to the skating rink with her brand new hand-me-down skates she had been given.

 

They were used, but to Kathy, they were the grandest things she had ever received.  

 

You see, Kathy never knew what it was like to wear new clothes, they were all given to her, used.  She never had new clothing.  Some of her classmates I talked to from Woodbine Elementary School told me that some of the other students would make fun of her and bully her for her hand-me-down clothing.  I was told that, often, when little Kathy would go to the girl's bathroom, some of the other girls would taunt her and make fun of her, so severely as to lift her dress and laugh at the holes in her clothes.

 

Kathy never had much in life. In fact, her whole life, everything was stacked against this precious angel.

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To most anyone, having to just live to survive would be bad enough, but for Kathy, life was so much worse!  

 

Kathy had a "lazy eye" and the other kids in her school would make fun of her and bully her.  

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Kathy took it all in stride and, while a quiet child, was always happy and had a smile on her face.  She would often go to her bedroom, close the door, and turn the radio on and sing and dance.  She tried to have a happy life.

 

She loved her meager life and was seldom down in spirit. Despite her many hardships, she was the shining light in her family.

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Kathy finished her chores that Saturday, and with the dollar her mom gave her, was going skating and to go by the Krispy Kreme on her way to the skating rink.  She kissed her mom, thanked her for the dollar and left out the front door of her home to begin the twenty minute walk down Nolensville Road to Thompson Lane to go skating.

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Kathy never made it to the skating rink.  She was abducted, brutally tortured and raped for almost 36 hours before she was horrendously murdered.  Her little lifeless body, nude, except for one Bobbie sock, left in a heavily weeded vacant field in freezing temperatures, behind the doughnut shop.  She was found with her prized skates beside her body, the skates she was so very proud to have and never had the chance to use.