Just one week before the first anniversary of their son Marvin’sdeath, Jerry and Frances Durr sat in a Lincoln County courtroom andlistened to another young man plead guilty to his murder.

While he avoided a possible death sentence, Cearic Barnes, now19, will be 65 years old before he his eligible for parole. Thegunman in Durr’s murder, Jerrard T. Cook, 19, who has pleadedguilty to capital murder, will never again be a free man.

We don’t know what circumstances brought these young men to thistragedy, except in the case of Marvin Durr. Goodness, it seems, ledto his untimely death when he stopped his car to help some friends.There was no way for him to know those friends would attempt to robhim and steal his car. There is no way to know what went wrong –why Marvin Durr was shot and his body left in the burning car.There is no way for others to know if that was the intention, butthat’s how things worked out.

Jerry Durr said last week his family was glad this phase of hisson’s murder case is over. “This has been a real sore, and it’sgoing to take time to heal,” he said.

For the Durr family, and for the families of Cearic Barnes andJerrard Cook, time will ease this wound and may someday heal it.Scars will remain forever.

One life was lost on June 18, 2002. Two others were wasted.

Some stories don’t have a happy ending.