In an e-mail to The Evening Sun this morning, Shyanne Somers’ mother, Kathy, offered the following

Through the last 19 months, we have all lived our lives in limbo, waiting for the trial, waiting for the truth, wanting to make sure that justice for Shyanne was found finally.
I thought that I knew everything that happened on that hill that night, but hearing all of the evidence puts it in a new perspective. It’s one thing to “know” what happened, it’s another to have that evidence in your face in pictures. To hear the extent of her injuries breaks my heart in ways I didn’t know it could still be broken.
Shyanne was such a wonderful little girl. She was indeed everything that a mother could hope or wish for. She was my life and my heart, my best friend. Shyanne was the glue that held our family together; each one of us in our own way would always think of how our choices would affect Shyanne. Because we loved her so much, not one of us wanted to ever do anything that would hurt her. She was our light and our compass, and she didn’t even realize it. Maybe it wasn’t until she was taken from us that we realized how much she truly held us all together.
I have her constantly with me in memories and pictures, but it shouldn’t be that way. She should be here with us, living and laughing and running and riding her bike and playing with her friends. Shyanne was an amazing child. People that we didn’t know came to her funeral and told us stories about her that touched them. One man who was as big as a grizzly bear stood with tears in his eyes and said that he didn’t even know her name, but she had waved to him everyday when she waited for the bus and he drove past on his way to work, and that one day he picked up the paper and saw her picture on the front page and he couldn’t stop crying. He said his ride to work would never be the same and that he would always remember her.
She had a way about her that would bring light into a room. When I was upset or sad, she would do her ‘thriller dance’ to make me laugh. It helped that at the time she was missing her two front teeth and her ‘fang teeth’ made her like a little vampire. She and I had a tradition. Everyday we would hug, and I would tell her, “I’m so glad you’re my baby girl,” and she would say, “I’m so glad you’re my mommy.” Shyanne knew that she was loved. I would tell her all the time, “You make my heart smile.”
I pray with everything in me that that night on that hill she knew how much she was loved and that she felt no pain. It kills me to think of the fear she must have felt, and knowing how very close to home and safety that she was. Shyanne did everything that night that we had discussed if someone were to take her like that, that she was to do whatever she had to, to get out of that vehicle, to run and hide even if she had to climb a tree to hide, and when the person left, she was to head home as fast as she could. I believe Shyanne did exactly that that night. The one thing that we never would have dreamed, was that the person would be someone that she knew, someone who would feel that they had to silence her.
But Shyanne wasn’t silenced that night. Because of the GPS evidence in this case, other parents are more aware of what can happen in the real world, that we don’t live in a bubble where these things happen just to other people somewhere far away, and it doesn’t really touch us. Because of my daughter’s death, others might live. Others might learn better ways of defending themselves. With the size of tracking devices now, they can be sewn into a jacket lining, placed inside the lining of a boot or shoe, places where predators wouldn’t think to look, and if even one child is saved, if even just one child is found because of that, then Shyanne will have saved that child.
Parents need to be aware of the dangers, and face the facts that those dangers are real, and teach their children accordingly. I don’t want anyone to live in fear, but if we put these issues out there in the open and face the truth of what can happen to our babies, then we can relieve some of the fears. Because my baby girl died, she will live on in the hearts and minds of those who never even knew her, because of Shyanne, parents will be more aware of what can happen even in a small town where you believe all is safe because you know everyone around you. But as this has taught me, has taught most of us, we never really do know what is in the heart of someone who is desperate. People who are ‘such a wonderful guy’ according to his neighbors, kill our babies and leave our lives shattered and empty, leave us wondering who our babies would have grown up to be. Shyanne will never have the chance to do so many things, but while she lived, she was happy, and she was beautiful, and she was everything that I could have ever wanted my daughter to be. Not a moment goes by that I don’t think of her and miss her with everything in me. No parent should ever have to lose their child, no parent should ever have to live knowing that their child was taken from them because of someone else’s selfishness.
Shyanne was not silenced that night. Her voice will carry down through the ages as children are better prepared, as other children are taught how to defend themselves. Not because they should live in fear, but simply because sometimes really bad things happen, and if it can happen to such a wonderful little girl like Shyanne, then it can happen to another child at any time in any place. Talk to your children, let Shyanne’s voice speak once more...
People need to be aware. She wasn’t just one child on a list of statistics. She was one child that touched so many people. She was so loved, and I was so incredibly blessed to have been allowed to have her in my life, even if it was for far too short a time. Shyanne will forever be my only daughter, forever be my baby girl ... forever be my heart. I will love her till the moment that I draw my last breath, and then I will see her again, her bright shining blue eyes and her contagious smile, and I will be able to hold her again and tell her once more that I am so glad she is my baby girl.
Kathy Rice Somers
Shyanne’s Mom