The Murder Of Becky Stowe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      High school is horror enough, darlings--those of us who have been through it know that--and as I watched the Oxygen program about Becky Shaw's murder, which used voiceover narration by the actress playing Becky, to make it seem like "Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets," which was always my favorite, but seems to have disappeared --I was reminded that girls from the wrong side of the tracks, who reach beyond, do not end well.

                                         Sweet as Becky was, her life was far from it.  She lived with her trash mother, and her live-in boyfriend, named Steve.  When Becky went missing, Steve fled Niles, Michigan, as he was then the number one suspect.  Nice guy, huh?

                                           Becky was pretty in an average sort of way.  But she smoked, and at that age, back in my day, that made one a tramp, she strung along two boys, aiming for the higher prize, Robert Leamon, the dumb jock All- American football type so many girls want.  One of those girls was mean girl Angela Snyder, who was vying for Rob's intentions, and seemed to be more of an item with him, rather than Becky, who could not see she was being used.   This was friendship with benefits, nothing more.

                                                Becky went missing on July 9, 1993.  As soon as I knew that I knew she had been murdered.  And I was certain Angela, the mean girl, did it.  Or she and a group of her acolytes, which these girls always have.  I thought this would be another mean girls story, because the species has been around since women were afforded education.  Back then, when girls were confined to one room, they picked on other girls.  When things turned coed, it was a free market for these meanies.

                                                  Except, it really wasn't.   Angela, in mean girl fashion, cornered Becky in the girls' room one day, telling her to stay away from Robert, or she would be sorry.  Standard stuff.  Becky refused, because, as she and her best friend, Jacqueline knew, Becky was pregnant, and Robert was the father.  Becky really jerked Tod's chain, who would have been a better fit for her, but Becky was not all that innocent, being a tramp from the wrong side of the tracks.  And wanting more.

                                                    On that July day, in 1993, Becky vanished.  And the investigation went cold.

                                                     But--and here a mean girl earns some credit--Angela Snyder went to police, after two years, saying Robert had killed Becky, burying her near a tree line by a lake on his uncle's farm.  At least Angela had somewhat of a conscience, though, when police asked why she did not step forward sooner, she said it was of little concern to her, implying Becky was just trailer trash.  Well, she might have been, but Becky did not deserve what she--and her unborn child--got!

                                                       Robert tried to say it was an accident, but why was there a shovel in the car?  Because he planned on killing Becky.  A hole had been already dug.  She and Robert went to have a serious discussion about the baby; Robert wanted her to have an abortion, Becky wanted to keep it.  They fought; he threatened.  Then he choked Becky into unconsciousness, but she was still alive! He moved the body into the hole, burying her--ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                        I won't describe what Becky suffered, but I am sure we call all imagine, girls!  And none of us would wish this on anyone!  I know I would not!    

                                                         So, good for you, Angela!

                                                          Yet, this tale does not end happily.

                                                          Robert Leamon was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997.  Twenty years later, he appealed, won, and is now released, and living near his former home, which rankles, and rightly so, some of the citizenry.   I hope Becky's family is not near him, and that he stays away from them. But take comfort.  Robert is real scum; he may do something again to put him back in jail.  Meanwhile, let time take its toll. 

                                                             What goes around comes around.

                                                               Meanwhile, Becky's tale is another cautionary one, reminding those from the wrong side of the tracks to maintain their social boundaries.

                                                                  Otherwise, look what happens.