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
how did she seem to you, caroline? she was just texting me, hurry up get down here, everyone s having fun. when i got down there, she was hanging out with everybody, having a blast, laughing. kids were celebrating what seemed like the first day of spring. we were doing like chicken fights in the water, just making jokes and stuff. it was a good day. after a day of laughs, danielle headed home. she has dinner with her grandfather. she s accounted for. mm-hm. her grandfather said he had seen her that evening. so now why is this sock over here at the entrance to this creek? police theorized that after dinner danielle had gone from her home back to the creek. why else would they have recovered that sock that she only wore at night? they wondered if she had met up with someone there, and other information was rolling in. the high school grapevine was abuzz with rumors about the boys danielle spent the day with at the creek. you identified a boy maimed