Blind sided by more murders of UMd students in Prince George's County, MD

This evening I received a call from Linda Clement [president of student affairs at UMd]. She was very upset that I had not been notified of the murder of one student, wounding of another and suicide of an engineering grad. She added, "Chief Dave Mitchell had volunteered to call you early this morning so you would not be [blind sided] by this horrific and senseless event." I told Linda, "Yes the sad story hit me very hard and I cried most of the day for these young men, their families and friends." I added, "Do not worry that Chief Mitchell did not call I am sure he has his hands full right now." A gal friend told me, "I knew the rest of the story last night but I did not want to call and upset you." {This was a good decision.} However; the story was the first thing I saw on my yahoo mail; I began crying before I even opened the story site. I have to say I have been researching PG County MD for the pasty two years and probably know more than the residents know! It's messed up; that's for sure. It is high time that the CAMPUS SAFETY ACT IS PASSED...WE DO NOT SEND OUR CHILDREN TO COLLEGE TO BE MURDERED. I sincerely appreciate that UMd thought of Justin and of me and was concerned for my mental welfare. Justin LOVES UMd and this fact will never change....FEAR THE TURTLE! PLEASE stay safe, watch your surroundings and if you do not feel safe get PEPPER SPRAY and USE IT! I remain Justin's concerned momma ♥

No one's child should have to die before their parents

Innocence MURDERED

When the world stops turning; what's next?

On Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 4:20 P.M. the two sheriffs knocked on my front door. They introduced themselves and asked if they could come in; whoa I thought I was 'in for it' my auto tag was expired and from another state. The loss of my job due to the economy had left me with no extra funds for anything other than extreme necessities. The female spoke first asking if I had a son named Justin DeSha-Overcash. I replied, "Yes?" Then the male sheriff quietly added, "Your son has been shot and killed." Suddenly I felt like "Alice In Wonderland" when she drank from the bottle and shrank so very small. The living room where we sat became huge and my hearing difficult. I can not explain what happened to me at this point in time; I believe I was attempting to wrap my mind around what the sheriff had said and thinking to myself, "This is not possible; it's not true it has to be a lie." I regained my composure long enough to inform them they were wrong and added, "I will call him and prove that you're wrong." I quickly dialed my son's number...nothing. In this split second, when my son did not answer, I knew he was gone; gone forever senselessly murdered in cold blood by an unknown masked assailant at 11:27 A.M. The worst nightmare, of a parent, to loose your child had come to fruition for me. The sheriffs did not have a lot of details; I was told my son had been murdered in his home in Prince George's County, across the street from where he attended college. I quickly dialed Justin's father's [my former husband] number but got his voice mail. I would find out, five minutes later, he had ignored his phone ringing to answer a knock at his door; it was the sheriffs in Bucks County, PA. After speaking briefly with my former spouse I dialed my mother and simply said, "Mom, Justin is dead." In disbelief she screamed, "WHAT?" I quickly added, "The sheriffs are here they said he was shot in his home and the hospital worked on him for 30 minutes; he was pronounced at 12:30 P.M." She shouted, "We're on the way!" and hung up the phone. They would travel all through the night from Asheville, NC to Bel Air, MD in a snow storm and arrive at my home at 7:30 A.M. the following morning. The sheriffs would not leave; they could not leave me alone they had to stay with me until I had someone I knew come to my home. My older brother, Scott, lived with his family about 3 miles away it seemed like no time had passed between my phone call and his appearing at the door of my home. He hugged me asked if I was okay; then turned his attention to the sheriffs. He asked questions I had not thought of simply because I could not think; normally I am great in stressful situations but my son, my constant, my light, my beautiful son was dead. The sheriffs were very kind and comforting I vaguely remember them both offering sincere condolences for my loss and hugging before they left. My older brother, a physicist, is not one to show emotion he sat silently. By 9:00 P.M. I was making consistent and unsuccessful calls to the PG County Police Department no one would tell me anything of substance. I began to call friends and family as I was not able to afford cable or internet they were all wonderful in keeping me informed with the breaking news; without my knowledge they were also censoring what they were telling me regarding the medias comments on Justin's murder. The issues began when I received a call from Sondra telling me that a PG County police official with the media department held a live news conference and stated (quote un quote), "The victim was targeted due to the lifestyle he chose. Remember my son has been brutally murdered and I had no real news to go on and in my mental fog I said, "Are they referring to the man who killed my son?" She quietly explained, "No, Karen they are talking about Justin's lifestyle." Very confused I angrily defended my son when I yelled into the receiver, "What the hell do they mean "my son's lifestyle?" Slowly she began to tell me what had been said on national television stations about my son. He was being depicted as the biggest drug dealer of College Park, MD. This bizarre news conference had been held shortly after Justin's death, with no investigation, no knowledge of who my son is and without telling me or Justin's father our son was gone. After hearing this I sat down on the edge of the sofa and around 2:00 A.M. I asked Scott to go home. At first he was hesitant but I assured him I would be just fine. All I really wanted, at that time, was to be left alone with my grief at the sudden and unexplained loss of my son, my beautiful son. I sat down in the exact same place without moving until 3:30 P.M. Wednesday [January 12, 2011].