A major factor in my determination to continue work on the Stacey Burns murder case book is the continuing fear which I found present during my trip to New Hampshire last weekend. This is not the palpable variety of fear which was so apparent four and a half years ago when this horrible event took place. It is a much more subtle fear which lies just beneath the surface. Here is how it was expressed to me. I did not record these conversations so I will not use quotation marks. (That would make them fiction and they are not.)
In one instance, a person said he/she did not attend the presentation of “Adventures of a True Crime Neophyte” last Sunday afternoon because being in a public (and vulnerable) place where the crime was being discussed caused a safety concern. Another woman told me that on a recent evening when she found herself alone in the house as her family were all out doing other things, a sense of fear crept in, worrying her until someone came home. These two people are strong-willed, confident and intelligent adults, yet the murder still affects them in that subtle, beneath the surface way. I have the feeling that there are others out there who have experienced similar feelings.
The fear, which the police apparently would label foolish, is real and should not be dismissed. Over four years ago, someone stabbed Stacey Burns to death. That person remains free. Murder was a solution for the killer once; no one can honestly say that it won’t be again.
Upcoming, this blog will address the four frustrations I mentioned at the end of the program on September 29 in New Hampshire. In the meantime, I am back at work on “fleshing out” the narrative of Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns.
Duke
Good for you! Stick with your gut.
This isn’t an irrational fear. It’s based on something that happened and is still unresolved. Not like a serial killer on the loose and striking regularly. Nonetheless, real and should not be dismissed.