A decade has passed since I spent four long years digging into the mountain of corruption that surrounded the 1989 killing of 16-year-old Janie Ward during a high school party at a cabin outside Marshall.
Readers between 2004 and 2008 endured more than 200 columns dealing with this travesty.
I'm not writing today to relive or even review the warehouse of evidence and shocking details that surfaced during that exhaustive look beneath the preposterous official version of Janie's death.
An Internet search under Janie's name provides the unfamiliar plenty of background. Warning: What one sees will be a chilling indictment of our state's criminal justice system.
Instead, I'm writing to respond to questions I continue to get about what's new in the case of Janie's violent death, allegedly from a backward stumble from a 9-inch-high rock porch onto flat, dry ground that supposedly rendered her unconscious and dead within minutes.
And yes, valued readers, this hastily concocted tale was every bit as preposterous as it sounds.
Many also inquire how Janie's parents, Ron and Mona Ward, and Janie's siblings, have fared since Special Prosecutor Tim Williamson of Mena led Janie's reopened case on what amounted to a circular, four-year-long wild goose chase that wound up right where her manner of death began (as undetermined).
I asked Ron what life's been like since and learned that while they still visit Janie's gravesite outside Marshall, the hurt those visits cause remains as sharp as it was the day they buried her, then had to watch her body be twice exhumed before allowing the young lady to rest eternally.
How would any of us feel had we lost a child in the way Janie died then have what passed for a purported investigation be so badly mishandled?
"We really feel let down, we lost a daughter and our lives turned upside down," Ron said. "Janie's siblings got cheated out of a loving sister and the truth of what happened to her hidden by the very same corrupt men we unknowingly looked to for answers [only to find them] protecting the guilty."
"When we visit Janie's grave, it's all like a bad dream," he continued. "We have a pretty good idea what PTSD is, supported each other and learned to live with it! Friends, any ideas where to go from here are welcome."
I can safely bet such ideas won't be coming from the Searcy County sheriff, or the state police, or the 20th Judicial District prosecutor's office, or the FBI, or any criminal justice agency that continually passed the political hot potato and failed the Wards since Janie's death in September 1989. That would include the state medical examiner's office.
It was the medical examiner who rushed Janie's body (following the second exhumation and autopsy) back from Little Rock to the rural Searcy County cemetery to rebury her and leave before the trailing Ward family could arrive for a final, personal farewell they'd planned. Ron said he'd intended to slip a letter inside the casket before it was buried the third time.
What an indelible stain the Janie Ward case left across the face of criminal justice in our state. And while the state drew a deep sigh of relief in officially filing her death away as forever buried, the family always will harbor an understandable bitterness toward those they firmly believe were involved in the death and apparent cover-up.
"The stress I and Mona have lived under in dealing with all of this has taken its toll," Ron said. " I had one major heart operation last May. Now I need something done for my lower back. The MRI's list is long!"
A former U.S. Marine, Ron said he also has service-connected physical ailments from those years. "I did service for my country and freedom to encounter corrupt [officials] who could manipulate the system and cover-ups," he said. "The good ol' boys are still doing well for themselves politically."
A wellspring of sadness remains, as it likely would with most Arkansas families who've faced nearly three decades of living with losing a child and all that followed.
Forgiveness is indeed divine and undoubtedly beneficial for one's spirit. But the thorns of lies, conveniently buried truths and injustice in the death of this family's 16-year-old daughter can't help but fester and persevere when embedded so deep in their hearts.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.
Editorial on 04/22/2017