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Cuddle from a killer

As we hugged away his grief, I'd no idea what his terrible secret was...


Published by: Laura Hinton and Sharon Ward
Published on: 8 December 2011

Well, it wasn't what I'd have chosen for my daughter - becoming a mum at 16. But that's the way things were, so I vowed to support Kristine all the way.
Watching her cuddling newborn son Darion, my heart melted.
‘You're going to make such a good mummy,' I cooed, stroking her hand as I'd done for the past 17 hours of labour.
‘You'd better be a good daddy, too,' I added teasingly. Her on-off boyfriend of three years, Zachery, 18, looked up and grinned sheepishly, clearly ashamed of dozing off halfway through labour!
‘Course,' he said, puffing out his chest. ‘I've got two jobs now, I'm going to support my family.'
I smiled, thinking how naive he was. They were young parents, and the road ahead would be tough. Still, they could do it. Despite his difficult childhood, moving from foster home to foster home, Zachery was trying to make a good life for himself. I admired that.
Me and Dan, Kristine's stepdad, had taken to Zachery straight away. He was very polite and friendly and, most importantly, made Kristine happy. Bless him, he was such a gentle soul, too. The first Christmas he'd spent at ours, we'd bought him some gloves and shaving cream.
‘Thanks,' he'd grinned, genuinely choked up. Soft devil!
Still, when Kristine had told me she'd fallen pregnant, I'd been shocked and disappointed. ‘Are you sure this is what you want?'
‘I can do this,' she said, determined. ‘Zachery will make a great father.' Sure enough, he'd proved himself.
Now, I had high hopes for them as a family. They lived with us at first, and the cramped conditions did make Zachery snappy. But things soon settled down once he'd found a flat. The three of them moved in when Darion was nine months old.
It was only natural, them wanting to be a little family together, but I missed them. For the next few months, I barely saw any of them, and Kristine rarely answered my calls - probably sick of me offering to babysit!
Then, about three months after she'd moved out, Kristine rang. ‘Can I stay with you for a while?'
‘Everything all right, love?' I asked her.
‘Mum, I can't be with Zachery any more,' she admitted, breaking down in tears.
‘I'm coming over,' I told her.
When I got there, I was shocked by the state of the place. Doors hung off the hinges, and there were holes in the walls. She crumpled into my arms.
When she pulled away, I noticed scratches up her arms. ‘Did Zachery do this?'
‘Oh no, I just bumped into...' she started, before stopping and nodding her head. ‘He's been hitting me.'
‘Let's get your stuff,' I insisted. Together, we silently packed everything into two big bags.
‘I thought you'd be disappointed, Mum,' she admitted.
‘Don't you dare think that,' I told her, my heart melting. ‘I'm proud of you for finding the strength to walk away.'
Over the next few days, I learnt that Zachery had become controlling, and had taken her phone from her. ‘After all we did for him, too,' Dan raged when I told him.
The change in Kristine was instant. She was happier, giggly, started seeing some of her old pals. But, much to my frustration, she began letting Zachery see Darion again - although she always went with one of her older sisters or a friend. ‘He is the baby's father,' she reasoned.
A month later, she asked if I'd look after Darion for the evening. She wanted to watch Spiderman at the cinema with Zachery. ‘Just as a friend,' she insisted. ‘But I need to get things sorted, so Darion can grow up with a proper father-figure.'
When she got home a few hours later, Kristine was in floods of tears. ‘Zachery won't accept that it's over,' she sobbed. ‘He tried to kill himself!'
What?! He'd got so worked up, that he'd pulled over at a bridge and tried to jump off. Kristine had saved his life by clinging on to him until the police arrived.
‘I can't believe he'd do that,' she cried.
Clearly, he needed help. He was forced to check into a psychiatric ward... but was only there for 72 hours.
Soon, he was on about seeing Darion again. Feeling sorry for him, Kristine agreed he could have his son for an overnight stay. I wasn't happy, but it was her decision to make.
The first time, she dropped him there a week before Christmas. Poor love couldn't relax so, the next morning, keen to take her mind off things, I made a suggestion.
‘Shall we make our festive cookies today?' I asked. It was a little tradition we had, and it was now December 18, so time was ticking by.
‘I can't until I've wrapped up my presents,' she groaned, looking at her bags of shopping on the side. ‘I'll make them with you later, once I've picked up Darion.'
So while Kristine popped out to get a few last-minute Christmas bits, I rang Zachery to let him know she'd be over about 2pm.
As I waited at home, all our cookie ingredients out on the side, time whizzed by. Suddenly, I realised it was 5.30pm...
I called Zachery again. ‘She never turned up,' he told me.
‘She must still be shopping,' I muttered, a knot of worry in my tummy. ‘I can come and pick up Darion.'
‘I'll keep him another night,' he suggested. In the background, I heard Darion gurgling happily. ‘Let me know when you hear from Kristine,' Zachery added. ‘I'm worried.'
We heard nothing, though - this was so out of character. Later that night, we called the police, reported Kristine missing. We couldn't sleep, just sat up drinking tea and staring out of the window.
Then, at 4am, there was a knock at the door. When I saw the policeman, my legs buckled beneath me. ‘I'm sorry,' he said. ‘A woman's body has been found. We believe it's Kristine.'
I thought I was going to pass out as he explained passers-by had seen a woman trapped in a burning car in Minneapolis. They'd managed to drag her free from the car, but she was already dead. She'd been strangled.
‘No,' I cried, collapsing into Dan's arms. ‘Who would have done this? Why?' But Dan had no answers to offer.
Realising poor Zachery was still waiting for news, I called and asked him to come over...
‘She's dead,' I told him, the truth still not sinking in.
For a moment, his eyes glazed over, then he wept. Burying his face into his son's belly, he paused before looking up.
‘I can't believe it,' he sobbed. Then, after a few moments, he added: ‘W-will we be able to raise Darion together?'
‘Of course,' I gasped. He looked so alone, so sad, that I felt sorry for him. I'd lost a daughter in this tragedy, and Zachery was clearly worrying he'd lose his son, too.
‘Stay here for a few days,' I said. ‘You need people around you.'
Grateful, he nodded.
But the second he left us alone, Dan cleared his throat. ‘I, er, think Zachery did this.'
‘What?!' I snapped. ‘He might have his troubles, but he wouldn't have done this.' He was visibly grieving - he'd loved Kristine.
Next day, I found Zachery in the kitchen with Darion. Tears were streaming down his face. ‘I can't believe she's gone,' he sobbed. ‘What will I tell my son?'
‘Oh come here,' I hushed, hugging him tight. ‘We'll get through this together.'
Despite my own grief, I felt for Zachery. Yes, I hated him for what he'd done to Kristine in the past, but we were the only family he had. Now the heart of it had been ripped away from us...
Dan wasn't convinced, though. That night, he tossed and turned in bed. ‘I still think Zachery did this.'
‘No,' I hissed. ‘He didn't. How could he, he's so grief-stricken?'
I lived on autopilot for those days... going through the motions, but barely functioning. Then, four days after Kristine's death, the police came back to our house.
Is Zachery here?'
‘Yes,' I stuttered. ‘Wh-what's going on?' But before I knew it, they were arresting him - for Kristine's murder.
‘I didn't do this,' he told me, as he was handcuffed and led away.
I looked into his eyes... and saw a different side to him for the very first time.
Just hours later, our worst fears were confirmed. Zachery had confessed. DNA linked him to the crime scene, too.
‘He fooled me,' I sobbed to Dan. ‘I gave him a roof over his head, a bed, had slept in the next room... I even hugged him! And all the time, he had our Kristine's blood on his hands.'
Dan's arms trembled as he held me. ‘Kristine saved his life just a few months before,' he sobbed. ‘In return, he took hers.'
‘And now Darion won't have a mum or a dad,' I nodded.
Poor little mite. We'd have to hold it together for him - so that very night, we sought full custody of him.
The next day, we held Kristine's open-casket funeral. Staring down at my daughter's body, I was overcome with emotion. Her pale face looked so innocent... she was too young to die.
I cried when I saw the sweater that her sisters Theresa, 29, and Michelle, 31, had chosen for her to wear. It was a turtleneck - so it would cover the strangulation marks.
‘I'm so sorry, darling,' I sobbed, desperate to turn back time. ‘I wish I could have saved you.' After we'd all said goodbye, her coffin disappeared behind the curtains.
It was a whole year before Zachery's trial began.
During that time, we channelled our emotions into bringing up Darion the way I hoped Kristine would have.
He brought joy back to our broken hearts, yet it was still hard. When he played soccer with Dan, laughed at Sesame Street, or called out for his mama after a
bad dream... ‘She should be here to see this,' I wept.
Finally, the trial started. Only then did we hear the gruesome details of what had happened.
When Kristine had gone to pick up her son that day, Zachery had got angry.
Smacking her head against a corner post in the house, he'd knocked out my daughter, before he strangled her with
a shoelace.
After driving her body to another part of town, he left her slumped in the car, set fire to it and fled.
Hearing all those details, I felt sick.
For the past year, I'd bottled it all up inside, almost not wanting to know how she'd spent her last moments. Now the reality of it all was even more horrific than I'd ever imagined. She'd suffered the most brutal of deaths. Worse still, had poor little Darion witnessed his mummy's murder?
Sickeningly, Zachery showed no emotion over the month-long trial. Well, that was until Dan read out his victim-impact statement. He held up a picture of him and Darion laughing at the camera.
‘These are the moments you'll never see with your son,' Dan said. ‘Goodbye, Zachery.'
His words hit a nerve, because he broke down. He'd caused this - he'd destroyed his family.
Zachery Williams, 22, was found guilty of Kristine's murder, and sentenced to life in jail.
Since then, we've tried to move on with our lives, if not for ourselves, for Darion - the biggest victim of all this. Now five, the poor mite hides under a table if Dan and I argue.
Is it because of what he saw that fateful day when he was just two? Who can say. He's seeing a psychologist, and the damage won't really be known until he's older. All I can do in the meantime is try to raise him the way that I think Kristine would have wanted.
Deb Tilson, 52, St Paul Park, Minnesota, USA