A young family left the crime-ridden city of Miami and settled in Tennessee to raise their two children free from violence. Or so they thought. On a sunny day on April 6, 1997, the Lillelid family met its death at the hands of a group of troubled teenagers from Kentucky. The Lillelids were Jehovah's Witnesses, fresh from a convention in Johnson City and anxious to win new converts for their faith. The teenagers were a group of outcasts from Pikeville, Kentucky, on the run after getting into trouble in their hometown
The Lillelids were kidnapped at a rest stop on Interstate 81 and taken to an isolated country road, where they were shot. The father, Vidar Lillelid, a recent immigrant from Sweden, was shot first. After him came his wife Delfina, and their six-year-old daughter Tabitha and two-year-old son Peter. Only Peter survived, though he was blinded by a gunshot wound..
The documentary will tell the story of the killers, led by 18-year-old Natasha Cornett (a self-described "daughter of Satan"), who stole the Lillelid's van and headed for Mexico, where they were caught at the border and returned to Tennessee. They were later convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole.
This
film unravels the chain of events that led to this tragedy; a
tragedy that turns out to have been so thoroughly preventable
that it is astonishing that it was never prevented. Some missed
opportunities include:
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Natasha
Cornett was committed to the Charter Ridge Behavioral Center
in Lexington, Kentucky. Though diagnosed as Bipolar and dangerously
disturbed, she was released after eleven days because she
had no insurance. |
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Cornett,
and some of the other teens, approached school authorities
for help because of bullying and harassment, but were told
that they were "freaks" and deserved it. |
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The
parents and friends of several of the teenagers called the
Kentucky authorities and the Virginia Highway Patrol with
a description of the car the teens were travelling in, and
a warning that the teens were armed, and that one was violating
parole. Nothing was done. According to the New York Times
Research study on rampage killers, it is common for friends,
families and others to contact the authorities prior to a
murder being carried out, only to be rebuffed by the police.
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The
teens were pulled over for speeding near Gate City, Virginia
by a state trooper who failed to search the car or detain
the teens, despite the fact that he thought they were dangerous. |
The
film explores the roots of the teenagers' violence, the failure
of the authorities and social support systems to address these
problems, and the way in which every safeguard failed along the
line to the Lillelid's deaths. It's not simply a story of teen
viciousness, though it is that, but also a story of social safety
nets' collapse--and the way in which "normal" people
suffer when troubled teens' problems aren't addressed.
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