01x01 - The Cheerleader Murders

[bunniefuu]

Football is king in
the state of Texas.

Whether you're a State
Championship-quality team,

or whether you're one that
just shows up on Friday nights,

to be a football player
or a cheerleader,

meant a lot.

The community knew who the players were,
they knew who the cheerleaders were.

It was a source of pride

to get to be a
varsity cheerleader.

And it just wasn't
possible that anything bad

could ever touch our world.

But we had no idea

that there was this
monster out there.

As we started going
through the materials,

we come across
cheerleading photographs.

Pretty soon a light
bulb goes off.

It seems like he's just
picking his victims

by who might be next
in that picture.

It was a Thursday.
It was rainy.

And it was January, so it
was dark already at 6:00.

When I got home from work,

the whole house was dark
and the door was open,

so that was my first clue

that something was not right.

I walked up to the door and
I reached inside the door

and turned the light on,

and there was blood everywhere.

All over the carpet,
all over the walls,

everywhere that you could see.

And I walked in
and yelled for her,

and she didn't answer.

And at that point...

I don't really know
what I thought,

but my sister lived in
a little guest house

behind the house next door.

And I went over there and told her
to come back over there with me.

She got her baseball bat

and walked back
over there with me.

The blood trail kinda
led to Retha's room,

so we walked that direction,

and it's almost like...

he had tried to shove
her in the closet,

but the door didn't catch.

Her wrists were slit.

The knife was still
stuck in her chest.

I remember thinking,

"She can't be dead. I just
have to get her help."

She just couldn't be
dead, she couldn't be.

The body of 18-year-old Retha
Stratton was found Thursday.

The former cheerleader
had been stabbed 38 times.

The woman grew up in River Oaks,

lived just inside the Fort Worth
city line near her hometown.

On the night of
January 21st, 1982,

I was the homicide detective

assigned to the
homicide division

of the Fort Worth
Police Department.

The first call I received
was sometime after 6:00 p.m.

Someone had shared information
with the police dispatcher

that they had found
a deceased body

out in River Oaks.

I drove there,

which would take about...

From downtown Fort Worth,
would take about 15 minutes.

As I walked into the
door of the house,

it was a very
bloody crime scene.

Very bloody.

You could see where the
attack had occurred,

on the living room floor.

There was blood splatters
all up and down that wall.

As I followed the blood trail

through the hallway
and into the bedroom,

you could easily see
two legs sticking out

of the bedroom closet.

Retha had 38 stab
wounds in her chest,

uh, in a very small area.

And every time you stick

that knife in and
you bring it back,

you're slinging blood backwards.

And that blood on the
wall by the light switch

was indicative of
38 stab wounds.

The knife was just a normal
kitchen, serrated knife,

about 10 to 12 inches.

It was still embedded
in her chest.

Both of her wrists had been cut.

And I'm not talking about
just being cut a little bit.

Both these wrists were cut
at least halfway through,

but there wasn't any bleeding,

so that allowed me to know that was
done after her heart quit beating.

It just...

It's ghastly.

The crime scene
will speak to you.

What it spoke to me as
a homicide detective was

there was too much
damage done to the body.

Whoever k*lled Retha
went overboard.

And the expression on her face,

there was a look as if,

"Avenge me. I wasn't
supposed to die this way.

Help me."

I was going to work on it,

as hard as I could.

Growing up in River Oaks, it
was a small, little community.

Seems like we knew everyone.
My mom was a hairdresser,

so lots of people came
to her beauty shop.

I could hardly go
down the street

that there wasn't
someone that we knew.

Just felt like it was a very
safe little area to grow up in.

Football season in our little
community, it was a big deal.

It just felt so
charged with energy

and the whole community,
you know, would come.

And you just felt so
much pride being able

to put on the
cheerleading uniform.

The lights would come on,

Friday night,

and that was when the
community would come and watch

and just be there to
support the students.

The cheerleaders running in
front of the football players.

Life in high school definitely
circled around football.

And you'd run through a
banner and go onto the field.

It was an awesome
feeling. It was...

I don't know. You
felt kinda empowered.

It's a hard feeling to describe

as a 17, 18-year-old kid.

You felt very special.

Retha was always the
little quiet one.

I remember her saying, "I'm
gonna be a cheerleader,"

and I think I fell over
on the floor laughing.

She wanted to do what
her friends were doing.

The football players and the
cheerleaders were very close.

Everyone kind of
knew each other.

Roxy was my neighbor
across the street,

and Scott grew up
down the street.

Rusty lived very close.

Wesley Miller was dating Roxy.

He was always around.

And my family knew
Retha's family.

For the most part, we
had grown up together.

Everybody had a crush on Retha.

Everybody loved her.

Retha Stratton was
the all-American girl.

She was the blonde,
blue-eyed cheerleader.

Most popular, made good
grades, everyone's friend.

And she was always,
always positive,

uh, upbeat and bubbly,

and never a bad word
to say about anyone.

Retha had a confidence about
her in high school that made her

just carry herself, um, well.

And because she had an
older boyfriend, Dale,

that made her even
more interesting.

She was pretty feisty.

She didn't mind
voicing her opinion

or telling you what she
thought, how she felt,

which was good.

That's a good thing.

That's probably largely
what led to what happened.

I think she fought.

Retha was a fighter.

She did put up a fight.

She had some defensive
wounds to both hands

where she had tried
to grab the knife.

It was a sexual as*ault,

at least a sexual
as*ault attempt

for someone to do
something like this.

There was no indication
of any type of, uh,

forced entry into that house.

Nothing was amiss.

At the time, some
information was relayed to me

through our police dispatcher.

A serial r*pist had been in
River Oaks for several months.

That night it became clear

that there was a
psycho on the loose.

I was a junior in the
fall of 1980 and 1981.

I was a cheerleader
with Retha Stratton.

I wasn't, like, super
close with Retha,

because I lived in Lake Worth
and everyone else in River Oaks.

I just... You know,
I was around her

because we were cheerleaders.

She was fun to be around.

Susan Brown as a student,

Susan Brown as a friend,

would be exactly the role model

that anyone would want
of their daughter.

Just, you wanna be around her.

That night, we were having a
basketball game at Boswell High School.

I didn't have my driver's
license at the time,

so I needed a ride.

My parents went out to some
dinner with some friends.

My friend Roxy was supposed
to come and pick me up.

It was around 7:00.

I get this call on the phone.

A man's voice then says,
"Is Mr. Brown there?"

And, um, I said,
"No, he's not here."

Then I hear a click.

A click on the other
end that hung up.

Just shortly right after
that, my sister called.

So, I'm on the phone and
I hear the door open.

I came around the
corner from her hallway.

A man is standing there

in our little entry area,

with a mask on

and no shirt.

Jeans and the jeans are open.

Like, already unzipped
and everything.

And I knew something really
bad was about to happen.

I just ran.

I ran as hard as I
could to our house,

but... he was faster than me.

He caught up with me,

grabbed me

and ripped my bloomers off.

I was screaming.

He would be like,
"Be quiet. Shut up."

I ended up on my back.

And at that point, I was
just trying to cover myself.

And he would hit me.

So I was getting hit if I
didn't release my hands.

All of a sudden he just got up

and told me to turn over.

At that point, I didn't know
if he was going to sh**t me,

but I did.

Maybe he realized I had been
on the phone with my sister

and I had dropped the
phone and maybe he realized

there was someone
hearing me scream.

I don't know, but
he got up and left.

I waited until he
left out of the door,

and I immediately ran
over to the window

just to see, but it was dark.

All I could see was a car
leaving with taillights.

For that particular
game, Roxy arrived late

and Susan didn't come at all.

We were really upset.

Like, "You guys know we
were supposed to be here.

We can't even do our stunts."

The police showed up
shortly after that.

They didn't take
me to the hospital.

They didn't do the r*pe kit.

They didn't do all the things
they should do after r*pe.

And to this day, it's very frustrating
for me why that didn't happen.

Anyways, so, you know,
that was my Friday night.

And... it changed
my life forever.

We were upset with
Roxy for coming late

and not picking Susan up.

It wasn't until later

that we found out that Roxy
just didn't go get her.

And then Roxy let us know

that she and her boyfriend
Wesley had been in an argument,

and so she just didn't
go pick up Susan.

She just didn't bring her.

It didn't really
make sense to us.

Like a week later,

the police did a line-up and they
said, "Can you pick someone out?"

There were six men
they had lined up.

And I couldn't tell,

because the pantyhose was
so distorting of his face,

that I couldn't
pick out one person

and say that that
person r*ped me.

I knew that the person was
probably like 18 to maybe 24-ish.

5'8 "-5'9", stocky build.

That was it.

Go back to school on Monday.

The girls, they were like, "How come you
weren't there?" And, "What happened?"

And I remember just being like,

"Well, I had something
happen and I..."

I really didn't let others know.

We really were kinda
upset still at Susan.

And we were kind of railing on,

"Well, she should
have found a ride."

And "I don't understand
why she couldn't get here."

Finally, our cheerleading
sponsor kinda had to say,

"Look, something bad
has happened to her

and you need to knock it off.

Don't ask her
about it either."

We were told someone

had attacked her, but we
didn't get more information.

I was 16.

At the time, you know,

r*pe was still like,

"Oh, what did you do
to instigate that?"

I just... I didn't
want anyone knowing.

I know this sounds
terrible. It was...

I felt very shameful.

We never, sadly,
talked to Susan.

She just, um, kind of
privately suffered.

She wanted to keep
it, uh, quiet.

So as far as how we handled it,

we were more concerned on where
we'll have our prom that year.

Honestly, we really
didn't feel threatened.

Since River Oaks was
such a safe place to be,

there was no discussion about
anything we should be aware of.

But the police told me,

"Usually it's someone you know.

We want you to go back to school.
We want you to look around.

We want you to...

see if there's somebody
that you've been around."

And I'm like, "I
don't know anyone

that would do
something like that."

When I went back to cheering,

I thought, "Maybe it's someone
watching me in the stands."

I was doing my cheerleading,

but in my brains,

I was looking at
everyone in the stands,

trying to see if I notice
someone watching me or something.

And then...

the other r*pes started.

In September, the football
season started up.

Still didn't know who
assaulted and r*ped me.

Some of the football players,

they would come up to me
and they would be like,

"What is wrong with you?"

I guess I wasn't smiling
like I usually would smile.

But I just...

I couldn't tell them.

And then I heard
about the next one.

As fall comes around, we find
out that we have another victim

in a nearby town,
Saginaw, Texas.

This individual was also
sexually assaulted in their home.

It starts out very similar
to some of the other crimes.

They report getting
a phone call,

asking for someone who's
not at that address.

It was a pattern
that had started with

the sexual as*ault
of a cheerleader

at Castleberry High School

and had continued and
progressively gotten more bold,

um, more daring.

December 7th, 1981,

was kind of a
typical day for me.

I lived with my parents,

and I was working
at a grocery store.

Worked the late shift,

got off at midnight,

and I didn't really have any
big plans for the next day.

My mother was in the last

stages of a
degenerative disease.

She was sitting in the den,

and she was unable to
move independently.

She had awareness but was
not very communicative.

I was asleep in
the back bedroom.

The door opened to my bedroom.

That woke me up.

And I was kinda becoming aware
of, "Who's in the doorway?"

And I realized
they had a mask on.

All I saw at that moment was
the jeans and the T-shirt.

He leapt onto the bed,

and pulled back the covers.

He was choking me.

My thoughts then are going to,

"Oh, my God, where's my mother?

I don't know if he's
k*lled my mother."

I said, "Where's my mother?"

And, in a whispering voice,

he said, "I won't hurt her if
you do what I tell you to do."

He kinda kept his head down,

had on jeans,

pulled his pants down,

penetrated,

finished.

He said, "Turn over."

At that moment, that's the first
time I felt scared for myself.

I really thought he
was going to k*ll me.

And he said, "I promise
I won't hurt you."

I rolled over.

He got dressed, ran
out of the room.

As soon as I could hear
him running down the hall,

I got up. And I ran after.

I got there in time to see him

passing my mom, and he
already had the mask off.

And I noticed that he had
kind of longer, dark hair.

What makes this
as*ault unique is that

her mother was in the home
when the as*ault occurred.

So whoever
perpetrated that crime

knew Lisa's family

and knew the condition
of her mother.

The fact that whoever
had done that to me

walked right past my
mother with no fear

that she was going to
be able to communicate

who it was or follow
him or challenge him.

It was really unsettling.

I asked my mom,
"Are you okay?"

And she asked, "Who is that?"

And I, in that moment, I knew

I couldn't tell her
what had happened.

And so I said, "It was
just a friend, it's okay."

So, I ran and got the phone,

and I called a friend.

I'm like, "Here's
what just happened."

And I'm crying and she
said, "Do not shower.

I'm coming to get you."

And, um, she was like, "We have
to take you to the hospital."

I do recall talking to Lisa

after she was r*ped.

Talked to her soon thereafter.

And she was hysterical.

Once she told me that
she'd been attacked,

I was shocked and
I was sad for her.

I mean, that was my friend.

And I didn't really
think back on Susan.

Probably should have,

but I just didn't put it
together at that time.

On December 8th,

the day following the
as*ault on Lisa Ticknor,

the sister of
another cheerleader

was sexually
assaulted in her home.

When I found out
that Roxy's sister

had also been r*ped,

I knew I had to go over there,
so that we could compare.

As it turns out, the
shirt sounded similar,

the build sounded
similar, the jeans.

It sounded clearly like
this was the same person.

Lisa was r*ped, and then
Roxy's sister was r*ped

and they lived just across
the street from each other.

Everyone was, at that point,
really, really concerned.

The atmosphere was
intense in River Oaks.

You noticed that girls
were not alone anymore.

They would go with their friends,
made sure they stayed in groups.

Retha called me and told me

that there had been some
attacks in the River Oaks area.

I was just floored.

I said, "Why have we
not heard about this?"

And she says, "I don't know."

She goes, "I've just
heard from some friends."

December of 1981,

Retha Stratton moved into a
home with her best friend.

We were cautious.

We had started locking
our door at night.

We were kind of on
guard a little bit.

But we weren't really scared.

Retha would go to
my parents' house

and do laundry there.

That week, she had
gone by the house

and was picking up some laundry,

and as she was leaving,

my dad told her,
"Retha, be careful,

that guy that, you know,
attacked your friends

is still out there. There's
bad people out there."

And she says, "Daddy, he'll
have to k*ll me first.

He'll never r*pe me. He'll
have to k*ll me first."

River Oaks may be the
"Home of Champions,"

it's also the home of a rumor

that is getting bigger
each time it's told.

The rumor, a r*pist
has been terrorizing

the bedroom community over
the last one to three weeks.

Most of the victims
are from River Oaks,

from Castleberry High School
or at least surrounding areas.

They were high school
cheerleaders, most of them.

The crimes increased
in intensity, though.

He's just getting more and more brazen
and more bold about the assaults.

But for some
reason, at the time,

law enforcement either
wasn't putting those together

or they were not sharing
with the community

that they had put
those together.

Chief W.S. Shirts

denies his office is trying to keep
frightened residents in the dark.

But still, he says,
the rumors keep flying.

I understood there was one lady
called the police station yesterday

and was wanting to know
if anything had happened

because she was going
to the beauty shop

and she needed
something to talk about.

So I can remember being at work,

and then getting a phone call,

and it was my
husband. He said,

"Your dad just called me
and he was real upset,

and he said that your
sister's been k*lled."

I didn't break down.
I didn't start crying.

Immediately, I wanted answers,
you know. Like, "Who did this?

Is this the same person
that r*ped the girls?"

I get to Retha's house,
I see several policemen.

Then I walked up on the
porch and my mom was there.

And other people.

The main thing I wanted to
do at that point in time

in my investigation was
make a list of the people

who had been in the house.

Amy and her sister.

Retha's paramour Dale was there.

Took a deposition from
them about the five "W" s.

Who, what, why, where and when.

Amy was very difficult

to take a statement from.
She was so emotional.

There was times we
just... we just had to sit

and let her go through
what she was going through.

It was easy for me to realize
that she's not a suspect.

You couldn't fake what she had.

But with Dale
Kinson being there,

I definitely listed him
as a possible suspect.

When they started
their relationship,

Dale was a junior
in high school,

and Retha was in eighth grade,

and my parents were not going
to let their eighth grader date

the guy that was four
years older than she was.

So Dale and Retha started
their relationship

sitting on the front porch.

And they continued to
date all through school.

Dale had dark brown eyes
and he played football.

Football-build-type guy.

Retha and him looked cute
together and made a cute couple.

But we've all watched
all the crime shows.

The first person you look at is
the boyfriend or the husband.

I know my parents loved Dale
like he was their own child,

but you still never know

that Retha and Dale
get in some big fight,

what happened.

When I interviewed Dale,

it came up that he
had an appointment,

allegedly, with Retha
to get his hair cut

at 6:30 p.m. that
same evening.

And he had gotten off
work around 4:00 p.m.

He went home and
changed clothes.

He lived at home
with his mom and dad.

There was some cleaning that needed
to be picked up at a certain cleaners.

He allegedly went over
and picked that up.

I asked Dale. I said, "Dale,
do you have a receipt?"

He says, "I can
get you a receipt."

He brought that in and then
his mother validated that.

The only time that he was
away from his mother and daddy

was the time he went
to the cleaners,

which was the time that
the offense occurred,

so that ruled him out.

Later that night, Dale and I
went back over to the house

trying to make sure that the police were
doing what they were supposed to do.

And at some point,

there was a girl in the street
that called out for Dale.

So I go with Dale to,
you know, meet her

close to the street.
And they start talking,

and she tells Dale, says,

"I drove by around
5:30 or 6:00.

I saw a red truck parked
up on Skyline Drive,

and it was parked
away from the curb.

Looked odd."

And so I looked at both of them and
I said, "Who drives a red truck?"

And they both said, "The only
person we know is Wesley Miller."

The only other way
I know this name

is from Retha telling me

that name in association
to the r*pes.

A couple of weeks
before Retha is k*lled,

she was telling me
about all the r*pes.

And I asked Retha, "What's
the deal? Who's doing this?"

And she says, "Well, the
only thing I've heard

is that the attacker looked like, was
that he looked like Wesley Miller."

And I'm like, "Who's
Wesley Miller?"

And she said, "That's
Roxy's boyfriend."

And I asked her, I said, so...

"Would he do something like
that? I mean, is he crazy?

Is he, you know, a*usive?
What's the deal?"

And she said no.

She goes, "He's really
kind of a quiet guy."

Says, "He doesn't say
much. And I can't imagine,

you know, that he would
do something like that."

Dale Kinson told me that he
had talked to an associate

that had seen a truck
parked on Skyline Drive

that matched a
description of a truck

that was driven by a
person named Wesley Miller.

First time I'd ever
heard his name.

I didn't know the
veracity of that,

but it's unusual to
park your vehicle there.

So, I had to check that out.

I knew I didn't have much time.

'Cause we have a
m*rder*r on the loose.

It's early Friday morning now.

We were planning to canvas the
neighborhood and knock on doors.

Since we'd been told
that there was a truck

parked on Skyline Drive,

I met a lady, she says,
"Yes, I saw a truck."

And she knew when that truck
was not there at 4:00, 5:00.

And it was not
there after 6:00.

And she gave a
description of the truck.

Everybody out in
River Oaks was assured

that that just had to be
Wesley Wayne Miller's truck.

He was a prime suspect
at that point in time.

Wesley Wayne Miller
was part of our group.

He was always around.

He was the boyfriend of Roxy.

He played football.

There wasn't a lot
else that was truly...

stand-out remarkable about him.

While in high school, Wesley was
a leader on the football team,

looked up by his teammates.

He was a year older than I was,

so I looked at him for guidance.

When we heard that
he was a suspect,

it was just hard for us to wrap
our minds around the fact that

less than a year ago, he
was one of our teammates.

Retha was one of
our cheerleaders.

We'd all hung out together,

gone out to dinner, gone
over to each other's house.

How could this possibly have
happened with one of our own?

It was around 9:30 p.m.

Somebody called the River
Oaks Police Department,

confided in them anonymously,

that Wesley Wayne
Miller's girlfriend

had washed his bloody blue jeans

on the evening of January 21st.

The night of Retha's m*rder was
actually Wesley's girlfriend's birthday.

And when he showed up, he had blood
on his jeans and blood on his shoes.

He says that he got blood on
his clothes playing football.

She takes the jeans,
and she washes them.

Wesley's girlfriend Roxy was
brought in for questioning.

Roxy said Wesley got to her
house about, uh, 5:45 or 5:50.

So now, we know when
Retha got home from work,

we know when Amy found her.

We know when Wesley
showed up at Roxy's house,

three minutes down the road,
with bloody blue jeans.

It all fit together
like a puzzle.

So now, we have
reasonable grounds

to see what Wesley Miller
has to say for himself.

The arrest warrant was issued.

And about 3:00 in the
morning, Wesley Wayne Miller

was arrested and
taken into custody.

Wesley's demeanor was
rather nonchalant,

and it was shared with him
why he was being arrested.

Didn't say anything.

I mean, there wasn't
any emotion in him.

When I interviewed him,
he rather surprised me,

because he just
looked up and said,

"I'll talk to you about it."

I took his statement from him.

So I sat down at my typewriter,

then he gets to telling the story
that he had a pre-arranged meeting

with Retha.

And they had this thing
going, between them.

Something happened, and
they got into a fight.

"Ended up having a knife,
and I just lost my mind."

His story of having an affair
with her was all hogwash.

He just made all that up.

And I knew it was BS, but he
was admitting what he had done,

and the shocking thing about
it was he thought it was okay.

That sticks out in my mind.

How you show no remorse only
hours away from doing it,

that's scary.

So I ask him, I said, "Wesley,

I need to know one thing.

Why'd you cut her
wrists so bad for?"

He didn't wait a second.

He replied, cool, real quick, "Oh,
I wanted to make sure she was dead."

I know I'm sitting in a room now

with a sociopath.

Today, 19-year-old Wesley Miller was
charged with the Stratton m*rder.

Miller was chosen Best All-Around
Senior at his high school last year,

the same school where
Retha Stratton cheered.

When it comes out that
it's Wesley Miller,

the River Oaks community probably did not
want to admit that it was one of their own

that had committed these acts.

Even the victims had a
hard time believing it.

It was unbelievable to think
that someone who we all trusted,

someone whom we considered
a friend, could do this.

Not only had we lost Retha,
but we were all trying to...

wrap our heads around the fact

that one of our
friends took her.

Then I realized Wesley met
the description of my r*pist.

He knew I was gonna be home that night
because Roxy was supposed to pick me up.

At that point, it
all fit for me.

Everything started
to piece together,

that this was cheerleader,
cheerleader, cheerleader,

someone's family
of a cheerleader.

You know, you start looking
at the photo, and you go,

"Oh, wait, Susan's
here and Lisa's there,

and then there was Roxy."

Of course, Roxy's
sister was r*ped.

It's kind of the left
side of that picture.

Was it intentional that
he was picking out...

particular cheerleaders?

During the trial, I felt like
a guilty verdict was assured.

And I felt like they should
give him a life sentence.

I couldn't even understand why

when someone gave a
confession that they did it,

why were we doing all of this?

I remember always asking the DA, "When is
he gonna be charged with the r*pe cases?"

He was like, "Well,
we've got him on this.

We think we're gonna
get a life sentence."

We received a guilty verdict,
and during the punishment phase,

the jury needed to decide,

you know, how long he would
serve for this m*rder.

And during that process,

the jury was not allowed to know
about any of the pending charges,

and so they were not allowed to know
that he was a suspect in other r*pes.

I felt like they should
give him a life sentence.

But he had an excellent
defense attorney,

who made an appeal before that
jury in the punishment phase.

He played that game of, "Please
don't take his life away from him."

And they bought
into it, evidently.

And so the jury handed down
a sentence of 25 years.

I'll never understand why
he was given 25 years.

It's basically the minimum.

People get longer sentences
for stealing a car.

It was an incredibly
light sentence.

So then I thought what happened
to me, that'll add more to it.

That's where we'll get him.

Because they're gonna get him
on all these other r*pes...

And it didn't happen.

He was sentenced for one
of the sexual assaults.

He was given 20 years in what's
called a concurrent sentence.

So, at the same time he's
serving 25 years for the m*rder,

he's serving 20 years
for the sexual assaults.

So essentially, no additional
time for the sexual as*ault.

For all of us that had
been victims of him,

it was almost a
slap in the face.

You want justice to prevail,

and 25 years was not.

It was not justice for any
of us, for the community.

Football is big in Texas.

There's no getting around it.

And sometimes, football players
seem to get the benefit of the doubt

from the jury.

"We want to cut them a break.
We want to give them a chance."

It seems to matter that they are football
players when it really shouldn't.

When you hear people say,
"Wesley had potential.

There are things he could
have done with his life,"

but people don't take the time to
talk about the potential of Retha.

And honestly, it's irritating when we talk
about the potential of these athletes,

and we don't focus nearly enough on the
potential of the lives that they took.

I hope Retha knows

that the grave wasn't
the end of her story.

And we will keep
her story alive.

And we will make sure Wesley
Miller doesn't hurt other people.

I miss her every day.

I think about all the
things that she's missed.

Getting married,
having children.

So many things.
So many things.

It's been 40 years, but it might
as well have been yesterday.