I generally do not like the label "victim." But in this case, I insist it is fully appropriate.
No matter what else comes of the current investigation by North Ogden Police, Alexis Rasmussen must be remembered as the victim of a terrible crime.
Alexis was just 16.
She, like every other teenager, was just finding her way in life.
Had she hit some rough patches? Apparently, if you believe the sworn affidavits filed by investigators in court. And yes, this father of four read every sickening word of those affidavits.
Even so, the only thing I can say with any measure of confidence is that the mistakes of her life-cut-short were probably worse than some but not as bad as others.
Whatever she was going through in her personal life, she did not deserve for that life to be taken from her.
This much I declare with certainty: Alexis is the victim.
Her death and burial in a shallow, hidden grave is an outrage.
As a child, Alexis was entitled to believe the adults around her would look out for her. That is something we all agree to as members of this society. We hold that children are entitled to the protection of adults. And yes, at 16, Alexis was still two years shy of what the law considers, in most cases, the age of majority.
We also hold that adults are fully to blame for harm inflicted on a child, not the child.
NOT THE CHILD!
Two adults have been labeled by the Weber County District Attorney as persons of interest in the death of Alexis Rasmussen.
If those "persons of interest" disregarded the societal contract and lured her down dangerous and ultimately deadly paths, then they must be exposed and punished.
As for Alexis, I choose to remember her as a life incomplete... a life barely begun... a story stopped in the formative chapters, long before a happy ending could be written.
Alexis was a 16-year old girl who deserved so much better that what she got.
