With each emerging detail, the story of the murder of a Lafayette mother grows ever more grim and unfathomable.
Police believe her teenage daughter and some of the girl’s friends were complicit in the stabbing death of Linda Damm or the macabre efforts to dispose of her body.
Authorities have made these allegations: After killing the 52-year-old Damm, there was an attempt at dismembering her. Then, several teens tried to take the body to the dump and a graveyard.
Finally, they left it decomposing in a car outside the Damm home where the teens partied on as if nothing had happened, neighbors said.
A more gruesome scenario can hardly be imagined. It’s human nature to need to know why – what went so horribly wrong to lead to such depravity? Adults or teenage friends should be encouraged to find a way to intervene if they see a family dynamic is careening out of control the way it appears to have been at the Damm household.
There are hints and possible explanations in arrest paperwork and the angst-filled personal Web pages of some of the teens. Fifteen-year-old Tess Damm wrote about her relationship with her mother on her my- space page in January. She said her mother had a serious drinking problem. And she spoke about how she skipped too much school her freshman year, and the disappointment she felt about the low expectations people had for her. It is sad and troubling, a cry of anguish to be be sure, and perhaps a cry for help – but nothing that would alert a myspace friend that a murder might occur or already had.
Tess’ boyfriend, Bryan Grove, wrote a Feb. 19 post on his myspace page that was more disturbing. It said: “i don’t even know anymore/i did something that i shouldn’t have/i did things that i shouldn’t have/but i did them/with my two hands/and one foot/ i hate myself for it. … ”
In the weeks after Linda Damm’s killing, Tess and her boyfriend played loud music late at night and kept the windows open despite frigid weather. They “car surfed” down the block. And the boyfriend was seen screaming incoherently in the street.
You wish friends or neighbors had reported that something was very wrong. Did anyone at the kids’ schools see anything amiss? Was there reason to notify the police or Social Services?
It’s awful to see that a group of teenagers could have lurched so wildly out of control without someone noticing and caring.
The judicial process will bring more detail and perhaps an explanation of a situation that seems so incomprehensible.
