Believe it or not, I'm somewhat relieved to hear this because I was haunted by thoughts of the seven hours between her disappearance and discovery. I imagined the most horrible things happening to the poor girl during that time.
One story that has always stuck with me is the woman who hit a man and he ended up stuck halfway through her windshield. She parked the car in her garage and would go out there periodically to check on him as he died over the next few days.
Oh my god! That’s horrible!!! Shock and panic are really strong and unpredictable emotions. As much as I like to say I would never do that if I were ever in a similar situation, the fact probably is that I don’t know. I really hope (and don’t think) that I would do anything like these people did.
I knew from the day they announced the story on the news that she had been killed pretty much immediately after she disappeared. That was a detail that really didn’t make any sense to me. It is nice to know that she wasn’t subjected to the horrors that women are often faced with in abduction situations, but still, this would really, really drive me crazy if I were one of her parents or her brother.
Ive heard of that story...more than once. Unfortunately. But yes, you are right - who knows how one would act under those circumstances? I'm reading a book at the moment that ties in with this topic. It's about an affluent family who catches their son murdering a young woman and they go on to create this web of lies to cover for him and let someone else take the fall. Would it make a difference if you had to commit a crime to save your child? Even if it meant taking someone else's life? That's an even harder scenario to predict.
I would like to think that my initial reaction to injuring someone else would be to help them. Not drive away! I had a pet sugar glider that got terminally ill and it ended up dying in my hands. It was a very traumatic experience for me, seeing her cough up blood and all that all over me, and I still really cant talk about it without getting teary eyed. And this is over what is essentially a rodent. So a human life?! I can't even begin to fathom what the man was feeling when he decided the best course of action was to suffocate the girl instead of admitting to his mistake and getting her help. I mean...honestly? If nobody was around to see it happen, he could have spun a story of her running out in front of him. Blame it on her. ANYTHING but what he chose to do would have been better. Leave her there for someone else to find. Drop her off. The only consoling thought I can think of is that she was suffering immensely, too far gone to be helped and he thought he was doing her a favor by putting her out of her misery. Purely speculation though. To make myself feel better about humanity.