Making It All So Real....

Making It All So Real....

Today's revelations of the details of the autopsy findings and the probable course of the attack on Jan Binkley Roseboro have affected many people in many ways.
Cognitively, everyone has known that Jan was murdered by beating, strangling and drowning.
The testimony as to the extent of her injuries and the details of how the pathologist believes the injuries were sustained, and in what order has caused some folks to simply stop in their tracks.
We now have a totally plausible theory of the course of the attack.
And it has made some of us cry. Some of us are incredibly sad. And some are nauseated.
To know, in detail, how Jan suffered is sobering if not incomprehensible.
She was alert and aware during most of the attack. She was able to see the face of her killer.
And she knew at some point that this attack wasn't just an attack. She knew in her heart that the person she was looking at fully intended for her to die.
The terror and fear she had to have felt is unreal.
She fought hard for her life. She struggled.
After the blow that pierced her scalp to the bone, she fought back.
After the carotid hold, she eventually fought back.
When she was taken or thrown in her own swimming pool, in her own back yard, she fought back.
As her killer forcefully shoved her head in the water, she fought back.
She gulped pool water as she fought for her life.
The last minutes of Jan's life are now a cold, vicious reality.
A monster attacked her from behind and beat the life out of her until she was dead.
Her head was bashed repeatedly on the side of the pool.... What rage there had to have been for that aspect of the attack....
This testimony has affected people in ways that they haven't been affected before.
For Jan's family and friends, this is surreal and sickening.
Their pain is unbearable.
There are no words to offer to them. Just know that we care. We feel as much as we can and we have cried for what Jan went through.
No matter the verdict, everyone will make up their own minds.
Even the children.
When they are old enough to be able to examine the record, they will come to a place where they know what the truth is. Years from now, they will need even more love and support.
Many people are bit quieter this afternoon. We're thinking about Jan.