Synopses & Reviews
It was just after Labor Day 2005 when Janet Pelasara received the news every parent dreads: her beautiful daughter, Taylor Behl, who had just started her freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, was reported missing from campus. The ensuing search for Behl eventually uncovered a secret life kept hidden from the people who knew her best. Under the screen name "tiabliaj"–jailbait spelled backward–Behl posted her private thoughts on a blog, or online journal. While Behl's family knew her as outgoing and thrilled with college life, Behl wrote that she had drifted far away from her friends, "...and I don't think anyone noticed I was gone."
Behl's body was discovered in a rural area four weeks after her disappearance. Police soon identified the key suspect as Benjamin Fawley, a 38–year–old amateur photographer who had been involved in a sexual relationship with Behl. The pair met briefly through a mutual friend and then communicated via the Internet, often posting comments on each other's blogs. While Behl was flattered that an older man took interest in her, it seems unlikely that she knew much about Fawley's past. On disability because of bipolar disorder, Fawley had a lengthy criminal record that included charges of domestic assault against women. Fawley was indicted for the crime and later claimed that he had accidentally strangled Behl during rough but consensual sex. In August 2006, although still claiming his innocence, Fawley agreed to a plea bargain of 30 years for second–degree murder.
Shocked and devastated that a predator like Fawley had access to her daughter through the Internet, Pelasara is on a crusade to prevent what happened to her child from happening to anyone else. In this compelling cautionary memoir, she reflects on her life since Behl's disappearance, describing in intimate detail how she coped with the discovery of her daughter's online diaries, how she learned of her daughter's killer, and how she endured the investigation that finally put a sexual predator behind bars.
Synopsis
A mother tells about her daughter's life, up to the moment she left home for college and was murdered a few months later, and the grueling ordeal of the investigation and trial.
Synopsis
A true story of a devastating loss, a mother's love, and the search for justice in the face of heartbreak On September 7, 2005, at 3: 30 in the morning, the phone rang at the home of Janet Pelasara, in Vienna, Virginia. The call was from a police officer at Virginia Commonwealth University, where Janet's seventeen-year-old daughter, Taylor Behl, had just begun freshman year. Taylor had not been seen since Monday evening, the officer told Pelasara. Within hours, Pelasara was on her way to the campus in Richmond, and two days later her frantic search led her to the door of the man who would later be charged and convicted of Taylor's murder. His name was Ben Fawley. "You don't know anything about your daughter," he said. "She's not the good little girl you think she is."
One night several months earlier, Pelasara had walked into Taylor's room to use her computer. Ben Fawley had been on-line, trying to find Taylor, and Pelasara was quick to identify herself as Taylor's mother. "Now that Taylor will be going to VCU, I hope you will keep an eye out for her," she wrote. "She's only seventeen and this is her first time on her own."
"I'll be glad to," Fawley wrote back.
Love you More is a story that will resonate for parents everywhere. Each year, thousands of mothers and fathers leave their children at unfamiliar college campuses, where they are expected to begin the first phase of their journey into adulthood. And each year, on the drive home, already missing them, these same parents hope and pray that their children will adapt and thrive.
It is also a story that will resonate for students everywhere. In this day and age, where cyberspace has become the place to stay in touch with friends and meet new people, we seldom stop to think that we may be saying too much, and to too many. Before you type that revealing entry, it's wise to ask, Who's watching?
Synopsis
The mother of a sexual predator victim describes her daughter's disappearance and murder during her freshman year at college, an event after which it was discovered that the seventeen-year-old had shared an online relationship with an older, mentally ill man with a lengthy criminal record. 50,000 first printing.
About the Author
Janet Pelasara has become an advocate for victims' rights, speaking out on behalf of Parents of Murdered Children, Violence Against Women, and other organizations. She is also working part-time for the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She lives in Vienna, Virginia.