Cold-case confessions melt woman's heart

Kalispell resident discovers 'there are good kids out there'

When someone stalked and stabbed Nancy Williams' inflatable snowman under the cover of darkness last weekend, she figured the case would immediately go … cold.

She didn't even report the vandalism and didn't want to think that someone would be so malicious as to ruin it for no one reason.

"I liked to think maybe it got ripped," she said.

Then, Sunday night, three teenagers appeared at her door.

"They admitted they stabbed my snowman," she said. "They went on a rampage, murdering lawn ornaments."

The boys had gotten caught committing other vandalism and decided to confess to all their misdeeds, including Williams' snowman's execution, even though no one would have ever connected them to it.

Williams didn't let them off easy.

With a straight face, she asked them how they could have done it. She insisted they dispose of the snowman corpse and led them to the garage to get a box for a proper burial. But mostly, Williams was impressed with their honesty and seeming sincerity in their apology.

Then, Tuesday night, they returned like three wiser men, bearing gifts.

They replaced her 8-foot snowman with a new one. They brought her another lawn ornament and a snowman candle. And they brought letters of apology.

"It brought tears to my eyes," she said.

One wrote about how he had lay in bed, feeling bad for destroying people's property. There were four letters, though only three of the boys delivered them. Two are 18 years old. The others are 16 and 17.

"I was just impressed," Williams said. "You can tell these boys are not bad kids."

She called Justice of the Peace David Ortley who will hear their case in court and the youth court officer who will handle the youngest boys' offenses. She wanted them to know the teens had "gone above and beyond what they were required to do."

Ortley suggested she call the newspaper, too, to tell the story that Williams says "warmed my heart."

"There are good kids out there," she said.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com