<p>According to a local Burlington TV station, the body of the missing student has been found. How terribly sad. This scenario happens again and again. I don’t know what can be done to prevent it.</p>
<p>Oh my, such tragic news. <em>sigh</em> I just read also about a man, woman, and two young children found murdered along the Florida turnpike today. Sometimes it just seems that each day’s news is more horrific than the day before.</p>
<p>I am rethinking the hermetically sealed existence for my children. <em>Sigh</em> is right…sooooooo sad.</p>
<p>We kind of knew it had to end this way, but still the reality hits like a ton of bricks.</p>
<p>They have taken a suspect into custody apparently.</p>
<p>This is such sad news here in Vermont - I emailed my daughter who is away at college to let her know, to express my overwhelming sadness and compassion for Michelle’s parents and family, and to ask her to be careful…wish I could see her right now…</p>
<p>jmmom, was it yesterday’s “person of interest” that was taken into custody?</p>
<p>The “suspect” is NOT being held in relation to the death of the girl. She apparently had borrowed his cell phone earlier that night. He’s being held on unrelated charges. We may of course find out in the long run that he did have something to do with her murder.</p>
<p>Really sad.</p>
<p>Yes, and my kid will be at an 80% deserted campus for the next 4 days. I may not sleep.</p>
<p>There is something dreadfully wrong with this country when even college campuses are unsafe…</p>
<p>
Or elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. :(</p>
<p>This just sickens me. Everybody say a prayer for her family. They are devastated right now. My heart breaks for her parents. :(</p>
<p>Is this the cost of being number 1?</p>
<p>I was hoping this one would turn out differently. I feel so sorry for the family and her friends.</p>
<p>She was a beautiful girl…did you all see how she resembled her father, who went on the air and asked for help and thanked many people. My heart goes out to them…I saw her mother not saying a word next to him and wondered how she was keeping from going mad.
We have to help our daughters realize there are sick individuals out there and that they can’t trust so much. Not that we know what really happened in lovely Burlingon yet. Very reminiscent of the death of a student at VCU in Richmond last year.<br>
At that age, I admit I talked to anyone and everyone and thought I lived in a bubble that would protect me. I once got in a vehicle to talk to a maintenance man on staff at my college who I found weeping over personal problems while repairing our washing machines. We didn’t go anywhere and were on campus but my friends really chewed me out. I thought I was being helpful. College felt like a safe haven and I trusted anyone connected to it especially the adults.</p>
<p>I am sickened and saddened by this horrible tragedy. I can’t begin to imagine how her parents feel right now. Arriving for Parent’s Weekend and taking home the body of your child. I had to hear my daughter’s voice after I heard the news.</p>
<p>Yes, she was a very beautiful girl. Unfortunately I think that is a requirement for the amount of attention paid to this story, from the moment of disappearance. The outcome is very sad.</p>
<p>This is just so weird.</p>
<p>She may have been new to the university, but she was 21. And she was from an urban environment – Arlington, Virginia, which is as close as you can get to Washington, DC, without actually being in the District. Given her age and background, she probably had some street smarts.</p>
<p>And yet she was murdered in Burlington, Vermont, of all places. It’s so counterintuitive. I mean, we would be a lot less surprised if a girl from rural Vermont had gotten murdered while a student at Georgetown or American University, right?</p>
<p>It may be counterintuitive, but it really shouldn’t be. There are men everywhere, in both urban and rural areas, who prey on women. It’s a sad fact.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I am as upset as all of you. I have been following this story and last night watched a video of her parents speaking to the public. I actually spoke to both my girls today and mentioned this to them (before learning of Michelle’s death). My kids are born and bread in VT. One of my kids goes to school in Manhattan and she walks a LOT LOT LOT and LATE LATE at night and I always WORRY WORRY WORRY and she (and we) know excatly where this girl was because we go to Burlington a lot (but do not live there). She was walking up Main Street, NOT an isolated street, from the downtown area to the dorms. Lots of people walk there and cars are always on that road. I kept telling my D if it can happen in bucolic VT, how she must be so aware and how it isn’t safe to walk late at night in NYC and she is like “every avenue in NYC is teaming with people any hour of the day” but she doesn’t realize that it is not like someone jumps out of the dark with a knife necessarily but bad people LURE young women like Michelle. I’m sure Michelle was a very bright girl. Anyway, it has been on my mind a lot. So many of my kids’ friends attend UVM and I can’t imagine how anyone will feel OK about walking around when everyone walks from campus to downtown…it is all pretty connected there. So, I was out the rest of the day. I just went out to dinner with hubby who told me the tragic news (even though it was looking more and more that this was going to be the upshot). He heard it on his way home from work. It is so horrific for her family. And they were here on Parent Weekend and all. Even before this outcome, I was aching for them seeing them interviewed yesterday. Regrettably, bad things happen EVERYWHERE, but still, we have much less of this in VT and so, it just brings home how one isn’t safe no matter where you are. This girl was well traveled and apparently pretty savvy. This case, along with many others lately, and the children and teens assaulted and slain at the schools, are so difficult to bear and I did not even KNOW them but as you all feel, it could have been any of our kids.</p>
<p>Thinking of her parents…</p>