Cecilia Slaby's death

Cecilia Slaby died a horrible death last Thursday, strapped in her car seat left by her mother, Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, in a closed car left in the searing heat for eight hours.

For the past week there have been thousands of comments, in letters to the editor, on Internet chat sites, on the radio, from people trying to comprehend how something so senseless happens.
An unfortunate reaction to horror is that it brings out a sense of real savagery in some people. Cecilia had to be buried in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location because her grieving family feared the public reaction. The school where her mother worked, and where the car was left parked, reports receiving threatening calls.

Whether Nesselroad-Slaby will face criminal charges has not yet been determined. The county prosecutor said all indications were this was an accident.

Many people say they can’t comprehend how any mother could forget her child, not just for a few minutes, but for an entire day. They say this was clearly negligence. That’s a reasonable question for a grand jury to decide.

But a substantial number of people insist on twisting the story, focusing on such irrelevancies as the fact that the car involved was a Mercedes-Benz. A luxury car, they suggest, means the mother must be especially uncaring. How people equate car make with parental love is beyond me.

The truth is the car was 10 years old, bought used after a wreck and restored by the dead girl’s father so her mother would have a solid, reliable way to transport the kids.

The truth of this situation is almost horrible beyond description. There is no need to make it worse with threats and distortions.