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David Onstott

The truth be told, there are some things that are just too hard to believe,too difficult to accept. Some stories can seem to defy everything we think we know about human nature, and compel us to reevaluate that line that divides man from beast. Realistically, we have come to know that there is evil among us, but it doesn't stop us from shuddering at the notion that it is closer to home than we expected. And yet, we are just the ones reading the stories- there are some that are living them.

Sarah Lunde was last seen by her brother when she returned from a church function April 9th 2005. Her brother left the house, and when he returned later that night, Sarah was no where to be found. A six day search would end with police finding the 13 year old girl partially submerged in a pond near her home.

Police would begin to focus their attention on the 36 year old ex-boyfriend of Sarah's mother, David Onstott. Having Onstott in custody for an unrelated charged proved to be a lucky strike for detectives, as they where able to interview him and get a full confession from him. (Among the charges he was facing were a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, for threatening a man with a screw driver in Apollo Beach Fl., a Hillsborough charge of failing to register as a sex offender, he even had a warrant out for a drunk driving charge in Michigan.)

While it is certainly difficult for those who read the story to imagine this happening, to be able to comprehend someone doing something so deviant to child, it is even harder at times for the family of the accused to accept that this is the life their family member has chosen. A mother would certainly be expected to hold a deep hope that this is not the sort of monster her child has grown into. As parents, we want only to believe the best in our children; to see them for all that they could be, for their successes and their potential- not for their failures and their faults. So it comes as no surprise that Onstotts mother is now pleading her own case in this horror story. A recent interview she gave to a Floria news station, reminds us of how hard it is to see the evil that may lie inside of our children.

A Michigan woman has claimed detectives used her to force her son to confess to killing a 13-year-old Ruskin girl in April, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Refugia Whitten met her son David Onstott April 16 at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office shortly before he reportedly confessed to killing Sarah Lunde, according to The Tampa Tribune.

Whitten said Onstott told her that detectives would not let him see her unless he confessed.

[...]

Whitten told the newspaper that she believes Onstott is innocent.

"He never confessed to me once, and I never heard him confess to anyone else," she said. "I regret ever saying anything to him. I regret telling him to just say the truth because they used me to make it look like he confessed to me. They used me to break him down."
It's hard to let go of the image of the innocent child playing sweetly at our feet, and exchange it for an image of a now grown child taking the life of another. It's not that we refuse to see the truth, it's just that our heart can not accept it. It's not always possible to acknowledge that the monster on the other side of the prison bars is that same beautiful child that picked us flowers in summers long past.


Mother Says Son Innocent In Death Of Sarah Lunde
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey....they found the dna in her bed to not be Onstads, but they still think he did it. The dna belongs to her brother and one of his friends,tho.
I think when he found that out is when he started saying the confession was forced....so convenient,dontcha think?
Anonymous said…
This is something I think about a great deal - how parents deal with knowing their children are killers. One of my highschool friends turned out to be such a monster. She and her sick husband actually drugged her sister, raped her, and watched her choke to death on her own vomit. They also kidnapped, tortured and murdered two schoolgirls. (You may have read about them on my blog - it's a haunting obsession of mine). Anyway, the husband is in prison for the rest of his days. Karla is now free, after serving only 11 years. She had made a plea bargain by testifying against him.

Now, my big question... how do her parents go on? She, in essence, raped and murdered their own daughter! How do they find it in themselves to forgive her, and stand behind her? I suppose they have no choice. They have adopted the notion that she was herself a victim, brainwashed by her husband. I don't buy that. To me, she's a viscious killer.

But... she's not my daughter. She's not my sister. How would I feel if she were?

H-
Anonymous said…
Reading what David Onstott did to that little girl was horrifying but it was not surprising. He has been a monster since he was a young man. He viciously attacked and tried to kill my brother when he was 19 in Michigan because a girl asked him to. He didn't know my brother well or have any reason for the attack other than some girl my brother dated asked him to do it. He is a cold blooded monster in my opinion. Thank God that now he may actually be prevented from hurting anyone else. His mother can live in denial but she'll find out the truth when he doesn't meet her in heaven!

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