the word help was scratched in the ground. we found two shovels that had what appeared to be blood on them. that just did it for me. i can t even think about how scared she was. a mother s worst panic. there are no signs to get there. just follow the rough, sandy trail from the subdivisions above, turn a corner and there it is, a creek, a low-twisting moving body of water in north carolina, that s nothing less than a garden of eden for teenagers playing hooky from high school. it was like a beach. if the weather was good, her decision was made, go right to the creek and bypass school all together. tell me about an afternoon at the creek, caroline, what would you do? just go swimming. after we were done swimming we would sit by the fire and get dry, and hurry up and go back to the bus and take it home. they would play all day like frisky otters. innocent fun until one day when this secret teenaged world collided with tragedy. i just knew in my heart s
on life, including her mom. she was a funny, witty girl. she stood out, she shined. you would notice her. she was always happy. never seen her without a smile on her face. danielle s aunt sheena was somewhere between an older sister and surrogate mom for danielle. danielle was living with aunt sheena s family in hope mills, north carolina, while her mother worked her way through a painful divorce in another state. my sister s like, hey, do you mind if danielle can come? i m like, not at all. danielle was the outsider, the new kid at school for about ten minutes. caroline and danielle became best buds immediately. we were sitting in the auditorium, and i guess everyone was scared to talk to her because of how pretty she was. i tapped on her shoulder and complimented her hair. she started making jokes and
so on march 11 when sheena and her mom had to go over to atlanta for a doctor s appointment, danielle s grandfather was given the responsibility of keeping an eye on the teen. so grandfather s in charge here. yeah, grandfather s in charge. and this was something we would really never do. and on the way down there we get a text, danielle, she s like, oh, you guys just left me, huh? it s just me and papa. we would always joke. like you d do that to me like you guys just left me. it was a tuesday, a school night. after supper, just before bed, danielle asked her grandfather if she could drop off a school notebook at a classmate s house a few doors away. he said yes. my dad says, okay, well, make it quick. you know. we never had any issues with her. so he lets her go. and off danielle went into the night. in atlanta, sheena sensed something was off. i had a bad feeling come over me. felt really uneasy and felt like
talk to you. like wow, really is this i guess it was going around that i was the crazy aunt. the kids had good reason not to talk to grownups about their days at the creek. they were all scared. they skipped. they didn t want their parents to know. the kids weren t talking much to sheena but amongst themselves. brianna was a junior at danielle s school. you go to one class, it s like what do you guys know, this is what i ve heard. some kids were convinced she d run away. alexis didn t buy it. she does not like to leave home. and if she does, she definitely would have taken makeup. she doesn t even check the mail without putting on makeup. sorting it out wasn t easy for law enforcement either. we re dealing with 15, 16, 17-year-old kids in high school,