Well, not quite. But after the long pause in my blog posts, I needed something to get your attention. In 2003, my spouse and I moved to Winston-Salem from the Triangle. We went back to visit soon after, and we left our young sons (then 2 and 4) with our dear friends' trusted housekeeper and regular sitter, Barbara. After all, whom could we trust to watch 4 active boys while the adults went for dinner?
My friends had recommended Barbara enthusiastically a few years before. I had her clean my house once or twice, but I worked from home and I was not impressed with her industriousness. Even though she was the darling of our supper club group, I never engaged her again except for that one night when she watched the boys.
About a year later my friend called. "I just want you to know that I recommended Barbara to you, but my spouse and I have discovered that she has been embezzling from us. We have turned the matter over to the sheriff. You might want to check your financial records." I thanked her for the call, and assured her that our finances were so tight at the time that I would have noticed $10 missing. Barbara had found their checkbook in the kitchen drawer and had been writing duplicate checks for her services for about two years. It was five-figure deal.
About two months later, Barbara made the news. It seems another client noticed something missing. Elderly sisters residing at Farrington (south of Chapel Hill) apparently invited their neighbor over to serve as a witness when they confronted Barbara over missing funds. Barbara beat the shit out of all three (with a cane, not an axe). The sisters later died, but their witness survived. Barbara had told the police that "a black man" had committed the mayhem.....a local school was in lock-down for hours because of this.
It came out in the court case that Barbara had previously embezzled from an elderly client. She had a criminal record, and a court order not to work or be unsupervised around the elderly. Did we check her background? No---she came highly recommended.
So there you have it. I left my children with a cane murderer. What does that say about me as a parent?
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