Silence Can Be Murder Essay 1000 words July 13, 2020 B J Owens 499 Coldiron Hollow Rd. Morehead, Ky. 40351 606-784-6346 Bjbluelady21@hotmail.com Silence Can Be Murder My world shattered the day my twenty-three years old granddaughter Cassie was murdered. I raised her until she was six years old; never knowing when her mother was going to drop her on my doorstep. I was happy to be a positive influence in Cassie's life as she grew into adulthood. She grew up a confident, determined young woman. I believed I was open-minded, thinking she could come to me if she were in trouble. But when she met her boyfriend, the need for grandma grew less as he took over the center of her life. I know now that Cassie kept secrets from me about his behavior. Once, he stole a collectible race car from our home. That should have opened my eyes to who he was deep down in his soul. They had a beautiful daughter that they both adored, and I must admit he was a caring father. He changed the child's clothes, fed her, and took her to his mother's for visits. But looking back, there were tattle-tale signs of emotional and psychological abuse that I didn't pick up on. He was lazy, choosing to play video games rather than working. Cassie tried to work and go to college, struggling for a better life. As a child, Cassie was self-sufficient at a young age; but she thrived and grew up confident. She kept that spark of believing in herself alive. She was sassy; didn't take bull from anyone, not even her boyfriend. But the arguments were draining her soul. He was entangling her in emotional and psychological abuse, so slowly, she didn't know how to fight back against those invisible ropes that were tieing up her dreams for a career and successful life. Cassie realized her desired future did not include him. With this realization, she told him that he had to leave her and their child alone. He could visit the child, but she wanted her freedom. He plotted his next step. He couldn't confront Cassie because she understood that he was standing between her and her dreams. I think that was why he murdered her in her sleep. Bang, bang. Two-shot with a 22 pistol in the back of her head. My granddaughter was dead. He murdered Cassie while their two-year-old daughter lay sleeping in the child's bedroom. When the child woke up, he went about the day as if it was a typical day. He fixed the child breakfast, changed her clothes, then took her to a pizza place where she played games. He took the child to the store and bought her a stuffed animal. He then took the child to his mother's house and told his mother he'd be back in a few hours. That was the last time he saw his daughter. Cassie laid naked and dead in her bed for two days. It hurts me to realize I can't remember the last conversation I had with her. The funeral home refused to let us see her because of how he'd left her so long in the heat. So he also took my last chance to say good-bye to my granddaughter. Her picture that sat on the closed casket hangs behind me in my office here at home. Rumors floated around that he was on bath salt and didn't know what he was doing. Bath salt was the chosen drug that druggies used during the time Cassie was murder. Rumor had it he went to the lake to commit suicide but didn't have the guts to do it. He had to guts to kill my granddaughter, why couldn't he have the guts to kill himself? Rumors, not facts. The rumors said he felt guilty, and that is what drove him to turn himself in at the sheriff's office. The detective told me he was emotionless as he confessed to the authorities what he had done and where Cassie laid dead. He also confessed he had purchased the gun several weeks before silently plotting Cassie's murder. I've never learned why he killed Cassie. I was cheated out of hearing the true story because there was no trial; the attorneys offered him a plea bargain. Silence to my questions prevailed as he took a murder plea of guilty with special circumstances and was sentenced to 38 years in solitary confinement having to serve the majority before he has a chance at parole. Even my muse climbed in a black hole and hibernated for five years. This essay is the first original writing I have done since Cassie's death. Hopefully, writing about her murder will help ease a the ache in my heart. Any woman or man who's being emotionally and psychologically abuse needs to speak up and seek help. No matter how deeply in the well of despair an abused person has fallen, there is hope. Otherwise, their silence could end up in murder.