Editor:

Charmaine, I am so so very sorry for what has happened to your beautiful son and your family ("Please, Come Forward," April 15). I have felt from the start that the authorities have 100 percent failed you. I am wondering if there is anything the general public can do, such as write letters to the district attorney or the sheriff about this horrible miscarriage of justice. A mass campaign. I had an employee during the time of Josiah's death and she was just out of high school and friends with many of the party attendees, however not in attendance herself. She related to me, her employer, four years ago, the details of the incident, as she had heard second-hand from her friends at the party. Her story matches your details in the NCJ this weekend exactly. She told me that the young lady involved often picked fights with people and asked her boyfriend to beat them up. In other words she has done this before and perhaps her phone was never missing but was a ruse to start fights. My ex-employee confirmed with me today that indeed her friends have given their eye witness reports to the police, so again we need to let this information get out to the public. Please in your next writing, ask for the general public to call and write to the authorities. They have all the facts that they need, they have the eyewitness reports, they have the knife. They need to be pressured to do their jobs. We have to let the public know that they do have enough evidence for a trial and call them out on their actions. I hope that Josiah is at peace and I know he is so proud of what you are doing to right this wrong and keep his memory alive in our hearts. I did not know him or your family but this weighs so heavily on the hearts of people that support you.

Kelly Erben, Eureka