By Steve Huff

LITITZ, PA (Crime Library) (Continued)

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By the time Michael and Cathryn Borden had been memorialized and the one week mark had passed since they were shot on a Sunday morning in their home in front of two of their younger children, new and deeply troubling questions were being asked in the mainstream media and the blogosphere about both David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden.

Was Kara Beth an innocent victim whose first intense puppy love had gone horribly wrong? Was David Ludwig a manipulative psychopath who constructed a mask? A fervently Christian, charming, wholesome mask that actually served to lure gullible teen girls into his orbit?

With the same friend whom court papers now say Ludwig appeared to plan home invasion, perhaps even murder, David Ludwig was apparently attempting to build a kind of "church away from church" on his family's property. He and Lohr were even seeking financial help as well as assistance in fixing up the place. Even though news reports after his arrest indicated that Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden had been seeing each other secretly since May of 2005, the e-mail exchange with the female friend in Hawaii took place in the summer of 2005 — Ludwig's final message was sent to her in August. Did Kara Beth Borden know about the relationship?

Some who knew the history of crime in America well wondered if David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden had been caught before they could become a Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. In 1958 the 19-year-old Starkweather, a garbageman from Nebraska, took Fugate from her home after murdering her parents and toddler half-sister. The couple then went on a crime spree that shocked conservative 1950's America, killing 7 more before they were caught.

Initially, Fugate was thought to have been an innocent abductee in that case, but it was quickly determined by authorities that she was not. She ended up serving almost 20 years in prison for her role in the crime spree.

While Kara Beth Borden was still presumed to be the victim of David Ludwig a week after her parents were murdered, it was becoming clear that the image of Ludwig that puzzled so many as the news of the murders broke on November 13, 2005 was perhaps a cleverly constructed false front. His talk of faith, spirituality, a lure to ingratiate himself with new "sisters in Christ."

In Ludwig's final e-mail to his acquaintance in Hawaii, he wrote the following:

"I would appreciate ur prayers...I really need Gods guidance in the things I'm doing.  Sometimes, naw actually almost all the time I feel so lonely and lost...then I just turn to God and keep crying out for His guidance and wisdom...I just want so much to please Him and be in complete surrender to Christ's will and ways!!  Anyway I hope you had/are having a wonderful end of summer and that God is richly blessing you!  I'm praying for you always and I miss you so much!  Dang it I miss you.  Remember Jesus is always watching over you and He that begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it!!  I love you and always will...may God keep you in His hands and guide your steps!"

Ludwig closed with a postscript of his own:

 

"Don't worry I won't tell your parents anything without letting you know first."

 

He ended his message with a plea for support and prayers, reminded the girl of his affection for her, and their "mutual" faith. Then he reminded her that there was something he could tell her parents that would cause, in her words, "all hell to break loose."

David Ludwig's faith seemed similar to that of many who went on to do far worse than he was alleged to have done on November 13, 2005. Like religious leaders in the past who managed to live long enough to manipulate the beliefs and spiritual desires of others to the degree that many died because of their supposedly shared beliefs, Ludwig appeared to grasp on some level just what a strong tool his surface presentation of ardent Christianity could be.

The question yet to be answered a week after he allegedly committed two cold-blooded murders was whether or not he'd begun to perfect the manipulation in his relationship with Kara Beth Borden.

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Steve Huff can be reached via email at, steve.huff@gmail.com .