Everyone also becomes a prisoner. Doors lock, children are confined and escorted. We become a community of people peeking out from behind the curtains. In that context, the filing of deliberate homicide and aggravated kidnapping charges against Nathaniel Bar-Jonah Tuesday in the Ramsay case may be a step toward resolution for the community. The story, however, has a long way to go before it is over.
Prosecutors face an arduous, gruesome task.
The fact that Rachel Howard says she still believes her son is alive underscores the circumstantial nature of the case against Bar-Jonah. The more grisly details of the case, including allegations that the boy was cannibalized, make the hopes of a mother even more understandable. In the months following his disappearance, investigators aided by bloodhounds and volunteers searched high and low, the story was prominently played in the Tribune and on local television. Signs bearing his picture were posted all over the West. Then, one year ago, the trail heated up again.