THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210307
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
As her 2-year-old daughter placed a nosegay of tiny white roses beside the burned pavement, Susan Etheridge began to sob.
``It's just so sad,'' she said, clutching daughter Dakota's chubby fist in one hand and wiping fast-flowing tears with the other. ``It's so hard to believe something like this could happen right here. If it were my children, I'd want to feel someone cared.''
The Wanchese woman didn't know the three Delaware children whose bodies were discovered near the Wright Brothers Memorial early Sunday morning. She had no idea why their father would want to shoot them, then set the family's van on fire. But - like most residents of this Outer Banks resort community - Etheridge was troubled by the tragedy.
She and her mother and daughter drove 20 miles Monday to leave flowers where police found the children's bodies. The small roses represent youth and innocent perfection, Etheridge said. White stands for purity.
``I have kids of my own and then I hear about something like this happening to someone else's - it's hard to bear,'' Etheridge said. ``All anyone can do is wonder why.''
At least half a dozen other mourners already had set bouquets along the blackened asphalt.
One basket was addressed to ``Three Little Angels'' from ``Alex, Sam and Ray.'' Another bore a card saying simply, ``God Bless the Children'' from ``Sheila, Jeff and Jeffrey Scheck.''
The fragrance of yellow daisies, crimson carnations and fresh roses filled the foggy air. But their sweet scent could not overpower the stench of smoke that permeated the small parking lot.
``You can read it in the paper, see it on the news and hear about it happening with Susan Smith in South Carolina. But then, you think, that could never happen here. Not on the Outer Banks. Not in my back yard,'' said Etheridge's mother, Jean Wimmer. ``But then, you come out here and see the burned spot. You realize it really happened. Then, you have to believe.
``I hope everybody who hears about this stops and says a prayer for those children,'' Wimmer said, her own eyes brimming at the thought.
``We get too blase about things like this. We forget, they can happen anywhere.''
In convenience marts and grocery stores, in restaurants and school classrooms, the murders of Catrina, Daniel and Theresa Mont weighed on everyone who had heard about the slayings.
Most were perplexed that such horror could occur anywhere - much less on the quiet stretches of resort beach towns. They searched for answers.
``All the kids at school were sad about this. We talked about it all day,'' said Chris Reynolds, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at First Flight Middle School. ``Most people wanted to know why. Everyone had a lot of questions about how this could've happened.''
No one may ever know.
``If nothing else, we as a society should do something to address the kinds of issues that can lead up to a tragedy like this,'' said Chris Reynolds' father, Bill, who lives a mile from the scene.
``What could possibly make you rather kill your own family than have those children live on - even if it was with someone else?
``What can we do to help prevent this sadness in the future? We all need to think more about that.'' ILLUSTRATION: ROBIE RAY/Staff
Flowers mark the site Monday where Catrina, Daniel and Theresa Mont
were slain.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SUICIDE SHOOTING by CNB