Crisp air, leaves falling, and excitement is in the air as the holiday season will quickly be upon us. I’m looking forward to the joy that Christmas brings. (I will be proudly decorating my house this weekend in anticipation!) But I am making an extra point to remind myself to pause, and to remember to give thanks, real thanks, for all the blessings that 2024 has brought. It has been really hard to see those blessings these last six months as I reflect on the work of our office and dealing with what have been some of the most horrific crimes in my career.
You may have missed it because it was barely mentioned in the news, but one of our murderers who shot and killed his 17-month-old daughter finally resolved his case short of a trial. This case was by far the worst I have ever seen in my career, and the weight of the burden we carried as prosecutors to seek justice was the heaviest I’ve ever had to hold. It was the kind of weight where time stands still in the moments, where it affects your physical health, and at times the weight gives you tunnel vision because all you can see and feel are death and despair — wondering if justice can even be achieved.
Now, I could focus on that, but if I did, I would miss the little things during the case that reminded me that what we do matters. Because when you are faced with a case where a child has died, and you experience the pain of the surviving mother, what we do doesn’t often feel like enough or that it matters because we can’t bring the child back. But, there were many moments during the course of this case where goodness and light shown through like little sprinkled reminders from above at just the time we needed it.
During the case we found people who were just pure goodness and light in this whole unthinkable tragedy. We met with various witnesses, including two people who I am going to call Jane and Jack — a married couple who happened to come upon, what they thought, was a car accident. It really was just a continuation of the murder and crime spree, where the defendant ended up stealing Jane and Jack’s car as they rushed to provide aid to the screaming mother and her baby on the side of the road, both who had been shot. In today’s world, I’d be willing to be bet that many of us would’ve kept driving, not wanting to get involved in whatever was happening. Not Jane and Jack though. They called 911, and even three years later, they were willing to come in and testify about what they observed and remembered because to use their words, “It was the right thing to do.” One of them even told me that their prayer in the morning before all of this occurred was to be used by God to help someone. God answered that prayer (probably not in a way that they anticipated), but He used them to help our victims in this case — that day and three years later — in a way that I will never forget.
We also met someone who I will call “Joe” who was nearby during the time of the crash and rushed over to give aid to the mother and baby who were shot. He took his shirt off to try and help stop the child’s bleeding. He also performed CPR until first responders arrived. Joe prayed for the child, and when we met with him three years later to talk about what he remembered, he told us his life changed that evening, and told us about those changes. I had no doubt after meeting Joe and talking to him that his presence on that fateful night was nothing short of divine to be there at that exact moment to help, and to be willing to testify three years later in our case if needed.
Finally, the brightest light throughout this case was the child’s mother who also was shot and almost murdered during all of this. She extended grace to the defendant while not letting the memory of her baby girl fade. She stayed strong for three years for her daughter and came to court to tell the judge about her daughter and the impact all of this had on her. And yet, she gave grace, and her strength and perseverance are nothing I’ve ever witnessed before. Her grace, and her strength, is what I take away from this case as a reminder that justice isn’t defined as the number of years in prison someone serves, or the number of crimes someone is convicted of. The definition of justice belongs to the victims we serve in this office, and I am immensely blessed to see that every day in the work that we do.
Even when the weight is as heavy as it has been this year, I still feel blessed to serve as your county prosecutor, and I know my team feels the same. And for every horrific, awful crime that we see, we still push on and remember the goodness and the light that is present in every dark moment — if you look for it. I’m so thankful for that goodness — for the Jack, the Jane, the Joe, and the mothers in this world whose light breaks through the darkness. Friends, this world is a good place. We are surrounded by good people — join me this month to celebrate the blessings we all have and don’t ever lose sight of the goodness and light in our world.
Melissa A. Schiffel is the Delaware County prosecutor.
