Crime Scene

Mark and Kathleen Bonistall of White Plains are in Wilmington, Del. this month for the trial of the man accused of killing their daughter, Lindsey. She was a University of Delaware sophomore when she was strangled to death nearly two years ago in her off-campus apartment.

They listened intently, sometimes tearfully, on Friday as the prosecutor  detailed how Lindsey died. I can only imagine what went through their minds later, during the defense’s opening statement, when Lindsey wasn’t even mentioned at all and the only focus was on the years of neglect and abuse his lawyers contend made the alleged killer, James Cooke Jr., mentally ill.

Today, they skipped the morning session at the New Castle County Courthouse, waiting in the hallway outside Courtroom 8B until it was safe to go back in. The prosecution was playing the crime scene video for jurors. Mark and Kathleen didn’t need to see how a fire had destroyed Lindsey’s apartment and how her body was left in the bathtub covered by charred debris.

The toughest thing to watch might have been the scenes of her bedroom, even though that room was furthest from the bathroom and sustained the least fire damage.

First the camera showed a street sign from Garretson Road, the family’s address in White Plains, tucked behind her bedroom door. Lindsey may have left for college but she had never strayed very far from home.

Then the camera kept passing the open window, so the greens of the park next door and a single tree were in stark contrast to the blackened walls inside. It was hard watching because you could picture Lindsey taking in that view while she practiced guitar, or finished an article for the school newspaper, or found new snapshots to add to her large wall collage. 

Lindsey sitting in her room, enjoying that view, “having the time of her life” as the prosecutor put it on Friday. Those are the memories Mark and Kathleen should have when they see that apartment.