Let It Go (Part II)

I was a little bit flippant in my last blog because it concerned a kind of obsession that I don't understand. Tonight's obsession is one I can understand all too well. I think anyone who has had a friend or family member who died under suspicious circumstances would understand. This is harder to write about than I thought, but, I'll just soldier on, and see if anything coherent comes of it.

Eighteen years ago, September 9, 1989 to be exact, in Marshall, Arkansas, a 15-year-old girl named Olivia Jane Ward died while attending a party. The official story was that she "fell" off of a porch that was about 9" off the ground. It was deemed an accident by the Sheriff's office, and the case was closed.

Thus began Ron and Mona Ward's excruciating oddyssey, to obtain justice for what they were certain was their daughter's murder. Over the past 18 years, the Wards have become impoverished through their determination to find out who killed Janie. They have come up against one blank wall after another. And, still, they persevere.

Mike Masterson, an op-ed writer with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette took up their cause several years ago, and has been trying to unravel the story and find the truth. Not a month goes by that he doesn't write at least one story about the Wards, trying to keep the story alive, and put pressure on those involved in the investigation.

The thing is, the stumbling blocks are almost insurmountable. The people involved are all prominent families in their community. The girl suspected of killing Janie, accidentally or otherwise, is the daughter of the then Municipal Judge. Two of the people who were thought to have information, and be willing to tell their stories, have been killed. Official files have disappeared, witnesses have taken the Fifth, and the official autopsy was done by an incompetent State Medican Examiner, who, after seeing all the bruises and mud on Janie's body, and examining her broken neck, and hearing information that Janie wasn't even wearing the same t-shirt she arrived in, still pronounced the death an accident.

Since then, Janie's body has been exhumed twice more, and two more autopsies have been performed. There is a world of difference between what the most recent two autopsies showed and what the first one showed, and yet, no one has been able to crack the case.

This story is like some those southern horror movies and old westerns where entire towns band together to protect their prominent members. The difference is, in the end, someone always uncovers the truth. After 18 years, it is doubtful that this case will be solved, unless someone finally comes forward and tells all.


At times, over the years, after reading yet another story by Mike Masterson, I have asked, 'Why don't the Wards just let go? They are never going to get the answers they seek." Of course, it's just my frustration talking. I know why they don't let go. I know I couldn't let go, either.


But, the Wards have paid a terrible price for their tenacity. Eighteen years, long years, when they should have been able to grieve and then move on and make some kind of life without their daughter. Eighteen years, when not a day goes by that they don't think of her and rail at the system that keeps them from the answers. Eighteen years, when everyone else in their community has been able to put the travesty behind them, and the ones responsible are now in their 30s and living their lives and keeping their secrets with a lot of assistance from others in the town.


So, I can't say to the Wards, "Give up and move on" as I could to the Mountain Meadows descendants. I just hope that one day the truth will be discovered. Maybe it was murder, maybe just a tragic accident. The Wards would accept proof of either one, I'm sure.



After eighteen years, they just need to know what really happened.