By Jennifer Larson
Even in the 20th century, women who were thought to be promiscuous were blamed for anything horrible that happened to them. Unfortunately, it’s much the same here in the 21st century as well. But when you have a tough as nails female cop on the job, that excuse just doesn’t fly. Especially when new evidence shows up proving that theory wrong. In tonight’s episode of COLD CASE, Lilly (Kathryn Morris) reopens the 1998 case of a murdered 15-year-old girl. Because this girl had a less than a stellar reputation while she was living, her case didn’t necessarily get the scrutiny it deserved. Often times, stereotypes are so hard to overcome, even when it involves the death of a mere child. But, when the victim’s tank top is discovered in an abandoned van, the case can no longer be ignored and is reopened.
We get a good idea of the reputation of our victim in the opening scene, when a fellow student consistently points out that she may be better suited to teach their sex education class than the teacher is. And, when the cold case detectives gather to discuss the appearance of some new evidence, the poor girl’s name is dragged through the mud again. Thanks to President Clinton’s sex scandal, 1998 was not the best year to be known as the go-to-girl for oral pleasure. Come to think of it, is any year good for that kind of notoriety, especially when you are 15-years-old? But considering this is COLD CASE, something tells me all is not what it seems. Maybe her reputation is more about the fact that she comes from the wrong side of the tracks. Meanwhile, Lilly still has some issues to deal with herself, regarding the hostage situation and shooting she went through; namely the fact that her boss feels responsible for the whole thing. This may take a while for the two of them to work out, but that doesn’t stop our team from finding a killer.
Hot on the heels of a new lead, Nick (Jeremy Ratchford) and Will (Thom Berry) question a boy that was known to mix it up with the victim. By the way, this is the same boy that taunted her in the sex ed class. It turns out he wasn’t getting half the fun out of her that he had bragged about. Making out in a van is pretty tame stuff, even in 1998. But this stud muffin had his own reputation to uphold, so he set her up. Having half your class listening outside the van you’re getting hot and heavy in is humiliating, but since he got his revenge, it looks as if he isn’t the doer. It does, however, explain how she was found without her shirt on. This kind of treatment may be why the victim was drawn to the school’s chapter of chastity for Jesus.
It turns out she was trying to turn her life and reputation around, by reclaiming her virginity. Sweet idea, but rarely successful; even if you have the support of your school’s religious cult … I mean group. Add to that the fact that one of the girls in the group appeared to have a serious chip on her shoulder with regards to extramarital affairs – along with a hateful obsession with Monica Lewinsky – and something tells me that this group didn’t give the victim the solace and understanding she was seeking. In fact, this club of purity had more secrets and problems than the average teenager does. Let’s see, there was the closeted homosexual, the couple having premarital sex, and the 22-year-old leader of the group who was pleasuring himself in front of the purist of them all. Keeping all those secrets can be rough. Maybe that’s why they all turned on each other nine years later, when questioned by the police.
As it turns out, these kids felt their secrets were worth killing over, and that’s just what they did. God’s children can’t be known as sinners, so they planned and executed the murder of their classmate together. Far be it for me to question a person’s religious fervor, but when your love of God leads you to kill an innocent girl, something just aint right. Even worse, is the fact that they all kept the murder a secret for nine years. That being said, you can’t get one over on this group of detectives. But I think it’s best to let the victim have the last word here, “I think God love me for who I am.”