As soon as I came in to work this afternoon and I saw the mug shot of the suspect of the Rowland Heights murders, I started saying, “Dude, you guys, I think I went to elementary school with that girl.”
I remember a girl named Manling (or is it Man-Ling? I seem to remember it as Manling) while at Los Altos Elementary School. I remember her as nice, always-trying type of girl. I don’t have my old yearbooks, but the girl I remember from elementary school looks exactly like this lady.
Well, it turns out, I’m not the only one who recognized her. At least one other person on Myspace began posting bulletins about Manling right away:
Date: Aug 9, 2007 12:36 PM
Subject: los altos students
Body: oh my god i dont know if you guys have heard or not but in rowland heights a girl named Man Ling killed her two kids and her husband i live on the street behind where it happened we just wanted to let you know we ar doing a vigil tonight at 8 pm if you want more information please contact me!!!!!Date: Aug 9, 2007 1:14 PM
Subject: PASS THIS MSG AROUND 4 2NIGHT
Body: VIGIL AT 8 PM THIS EVENING ON CAMINO BELLO FOR THE BABIES THAT WERE KILLED AND THEIR DAD!!!!
THE NEIGBORHOOD WILL BE OUT HERE PRAYING FOR THEM!!PLEASE JOIN US
Date: Aug 9, 2007 3:30 PM
Subject: in memory of neal devin and ian
Body: join us this evening for a vigil in their honor!!!8 pm on camino bello in rowland heights ca need info msg me and i will give u mre accurate info
Man. It’s a small world.
*Here’s some video on the vigil referenced above.
A kid I went to high school with was wanted by police and advertised on tv as “armed and dangerous” and wanted on murder charges. He was in my year and always seemed like a nice kid who tried hard, sorta got distracted by the “bad kids” but seemed to be on the right track.
I guess it’s always like that.