DD Support Board and Research Team

[janice shell]

The sins of the father are an interesting wild card in the case. According to Eric and another brother--there were four in all, apparently--their mother hadn't told the kids about their father's crimes or arrest. Eventually she explained that he'd died.

But didn't this seem strange to any of them? Stephen was the oldest, born in 1953. He'd have been 14 or 15 when Dad was arrested and charged in 1968. He must still have been living with the family then, or at least visiting often. The Times reporters interviewed a neighbor who'd taken Stephen to her home while the police searched the house.

Sure, there was no internet to make things easy, but back then we didn't live in a vacuum. Surely the neighbors, and the boys' schoolmates, knew something. News like that spreads like wildfire. Even if Mom had tried to convince the kids of her own story, and refused to talk about their father, what was to stop them from finding out more later on?

Did Stephen ever search for him as an adult? Did they ever make contact, or even meet?