When I lived in Janesville, I worked at Kwik Trip, which is the best convenience store that exists. The store that I worked at was outside the city limits on the south side of town and located near several trailer parks. All of us that worked there long enough (I was there 3 years) got to know our regular customers, and they got to know us. Many of our regulars were in nearly every night to pick up milk, bread, cigarettes, lottery tickets, or bananas (Kwik Trip is known for their bread and bananas).

One of our regular customers was a single mom named Danyetta. She had two kids, Nicole and Scotty, who always came in the store with her. To be honest, the kids were a handful. They would come in the store and argue with one another and wouldn't always use their "indoor" voices. Nicole was oldest, 10-12 when I worked there, and her brother was 3 years younger. Daynetta and her kids came in almost every night so we got to know them pretty well. It was obvious that Daynetta had her hands full; of course she was a single parent, and they lived in one of the trailer parks. They didn't drive a nice car and Daynetta always bought the cheapest brand of cigarrettes we carried. The kids always begged their mom for a "treat", but mom most of the time had to say no, probably because they didn't have enough money. Even so, Daynetta was a super-nice lady, and we enjoyed talking to her when she came in the store.

I read Janesville's newspaper online every day. Not much ever happens there. It's a medium-sized city with lots of nice houses, good schools, and landscaped yards. The cops are notorious in Janesville for pulling everyone and anyone over for the most minor traffic violations - we always joked it was because they had nothing better to do with their time. Maybe once or twice a year a gas station is robbed, or a house is broken into. Other than that, Janesville is about the safest place you could live.

That is why it came as a huge suprise to me yesterday when I read the paper and saw that a family of three had been murdered in their own home in the middle of the night. I read the article and recognized the names, but I couldn't place them. Until today.

The Gazette posted a new article, this time with pictures, and I knew immediately who it was. Daynetta and her two kids, now 17 and 14, were murdered in their trailer in the middle of the night. Police so far have no idea why or who did it, but I hope they find the person soon. It scares the begeebes out of me and it breaks my heart.

I'm sure my old co-workers are grief-stricken as well as afraid. They lived right down the road from Kwik Trip. My heart goes out to their family and friends who suffer from this. I hope that whoever did this is found and locked away forever.