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Moscow, Idaho

J eff Kernodle is headed on the long journey back to his home in Arizona after family weekend. He’s feeling justifiably elated.

It hasn’t been a straightforward path, parenting his two daughters, Jazzmin and Xana.

Their mom, Cara, has been in and out of jail for years.

When Jazzmin and Xana were little, Jeff got full custody.

It was not easy being a single dad, juggling children and a job.

And, more recently, a move from Post Falls, Idaho, to Arizona.

But he and his daughters are as tight as can be. And his daughters are tight with each other.

He smiles when he thinks about the fact that they are just fifteen miles apart, Jazzmin at WSU, Xana at UI. Two beautiful young women, full of life, laughter, hope. And love for each other.

Jazzmin is a rising senior, studying business marketing and digital technology. Xana has mentioned wanting a career in digital marketing, or maybe sales, but she’s always been the more carefree of the two. The one who laughingly has always said she has no plans for the future.

But Jeff noticed this past weekend that she’s changing.

She wanted him to meet her boyfriend’s parents, Jim and Stacy. Nice people.

She’s never had a serious boyfriend before, and Jeff can tell she’s nuts about Ethan. So nuts she’s thinking about a future with him.

Why, though, did she not phone earlier? He’d thought they might have brunch today, but he didn’t hear from her, so he hit the road.

His phone rings.

It’s Jazzmin. She’s crying.

“Dad, you need to turn around.”

His heart drops.

“Meet me at Xana’s house” is all she says.

When he gets there, it’s cordoned off and swarming with police officers.

Jeff tells them he’s Xana’s dad, and an officer asks if he and Jazzmin can please follow him to the station.

When they get there, they are ushered into a room where an officer gently tells them there have been four victims of a homicide—and that Xana is one.

Jeff is speechless. What can you say to such a thing?

There aren’t words.

Just tears and agony.