Attorney: Teen Was Victim in Her Parents' Murder
Nov. 17, 2005 — -- The 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl found in Indiana 24 hours after her parents were allegedly killed by her boyfriend is a victim, according to friends, family and now the teen's attorney.
"She has not been charged with anything, and we do not expect her to be charged with anything," Robert Beyer, attorney for Kara Borden, told ABC News. "The only reason legal counsel has been retained is to protect her rights as a child, to protect her rights as a victim and to protect her rights as a potential witness.''
Police allege David Ludwig, 18, shot Michael and Cathryn Borden in their home on Sunday night after getting into a fight over his relationship with Kara, then kidnapped Kara and fled the state. Police said they are treating Kara as a crime victim while continuing the investigation.
Ludwig is being held without bail; Kara has been reunited with her family.
Court documents suggest Ludwig and Kara had a "secret, intimate relationship of a sexual nature."
Samuel Peter Lohr -- a close friend of Ludwig -- was interviewed by Warwick Township police on Monday, according to an affidavit for probable cause. Lohr told police that Ludwig and Kara often exchanged flirtatious messages via instant messenging programs, and also shared intimate images of one another using the Internet and cell phone cameras.
But family and friends say there is no way Kara could have had anything to do with her parents' deaths.
"Knowing how I know the Borden family, I find it virtually impossible to believe that Kara had any involvement in this at all," Kellymarie Conlon, 24, told ABC News. Conlon said she "practically grew up" in the Borden house and was best friends with Kara's older brother James.
Ludwig and Kara were taken into custody on Monday after Ludwig crashed his car into a tree while attempting to outrun the police. The crash occurred 20 miles outside of Indianapolis -- some 600 miles from Lititz, Pa., where he allegedly shot Borden's parents to death.
Kara was unharmed but shaken when taken into custody.
Small Community Reeling
The small community of Lititz is still reeling from the killings.
"We were all shocked and terribly saddened when we heard the news," said David Sheaffer, an elder at the Monterey Chapel where the Borden family attends church. "We are going to protect and care for the family [the children] as best we can."
Sheaffer said Michael Borden had been a member of the church -- part of the Plymouth Brethren -- for 12 or 15 years, and an elder of the church for eight or nine.
About 100 people attended a prayer service for Michael and Cathryn Borden at the chapel on Tuesday night.
Conlon said she and the family are anxious for the media attention to focus on the victims. "Everybody is talking about the chase, the police, the car crash," she said. "And they seem to be forgetting that there are two good people who died here."
Conlon said friends of the Bordens are setting up a trust fund for the Borden children.