Tribute to Janet Dent

My beautiful mother, Janet was shot in the head Sept 18, 1971. I was ten years old and heard the whole thing from my bedroom. Her ex boyfriend came to our house in a jealous rage and proceeded to murder her while I cried, helpless to do anything in my bed. He was arrested and stood trial but was acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity. He never served a day in prison and to my knowledge never spent any time in a mental facility. He was married and had children of his own but made no provision for me or my future. He robbed me of my mother, my only parent. She was beautiful, happy, artistic and made me feel loved and happy. At ten years old my whole world crumbled. I was left to the care of grandparents as I had no siblings. She didn’t deserve to die and to be gunned down like that. I’ve had to struggle all my life with this nightmare and not a day goes by that I don’t replay this in my mind. I can’t believe he didn’t serve a day’s time for this horrific crime. There were two victims that night and why he left me alone I’ll never know. I’ve survived but the pain has never gone away. He brought the gun to our house and claimed it was my mothers and he was upset with her because she wanted to break up with him. She had broken up with him when she found out he was married. After 40 years it still is a nightmare that I can’t resolve. He has lived a nice life, seen his children raised and now has grandchildren. He lives not too far from me and I have friends that know his children.