By Seamus McGraw

Lancaster County , PA  (Crime Library) — A stiff breeze, colder than usual for early December, whipped down Royal Drive, and the little white ribbons, a dozen or more tied to the mailboxes outside each and every house, shivered slightly.

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A middle-age woman bundled against the cold, with her little dog in tow, stopped warily beside a stranger's car, across the street from 15 Royal Drive. She studied the stranger for a moment then answered his query about the nature of the ribbons in the most economical way possible. "There was a tragedy in the neighborhood," she said simply.

The Borden home

She didn't go into detail. She didn't have to. Almost everyone in America has now heard how the adults in that house — Michael and Cathryn Borden — were executed, allegedly by the 18-year-old boyfriend of their young daughter, Kara. The young couple, both children of devout, God-fearing people, had been deeply involved in a sexual relationship, and though they both claimed to fear that they would be discovered, both spoke openly about their relationship with friends and on their weblogs.

When Michael Borden caught his young daughter sneaking home after spending the night with David Ludwig, he summoned the young man to confront him. The young man came prepared. He had three guns with him. He left two in his car, and stuffed a handgun into the waistband of his pants. After a 30-minute conversation inside the house, Borden turned to lead the young man out. That, prosecutors now believe, was the moment that Ludwig decided to kill him. He pulled the gun, held it just inches from the older man's head, and squeezed the trigger, then turned and gunned down Cathryn Borden. Ludwig then fled, pausing just long enough for his underage girlfriend to rush from the house, abandoning the bodies of her slain parents, to be with their alleged killer and to start a new life with him. They remained together for a little more than a day. Ludwig was arrested the next day in Indiana after a high-speed chase.

In the two weeks since Ludwig's arrest, the close-knit community along Royal Drive, an upscale front-porch neighborhood of almost ostentatiously cheerful colonial homes, has been inundated with morbid curiosity-seekers and aggressive reporters, like the stranger who chatted with the middle-age woman. They've learned to become cautious, almost parsimonious with their words as they seek, in the language of a young neighborhood man named Chris, "to get it behind them."

In fact, on this cold December afternoon, as the white ribbons shivered on the mailboxes, another monument of sorts was being erected on the prim cul de sac atop Owl Hill. Workmen were busy fastening great sheets of particleboard over the windows of Michael and Cathryn Borden's now-vacant home. It was purely a practical measure. The windows on the house had been shattered by police SWAT team members, but now, it seems almost a message to the curious to stay away.

Death Penalty Still on the Table

The truth is, of course, it will be a long time before there is any sort of closure for the community, and it will be longer still before there is any closure for the family of the slain couple. Though authorities have maintained that Kara Borden, who remains in the custody of relatives, is not considered a suspect in the case, and those close to the investigation say it is unlikely that she will face any charges in the case, the probe is continuing.

Last week, a judge, acting on the prosecution's request, ordered both Ludwig and Kara Borden's weblogs, their e-mail accounts and their cell phone records frozen. Investigators are poring over those records looking for additional details about the two, and are also hoping to identify potential witnesses with whom they may have discussed their relationship.

Next Page

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