Charred Path, Broken Hearts

Orange County, the same county our school resides in, two young students were found, their bodies, burning along side a bike route. Bicyclists riding along the trail Sunday morning, April 15th, made the discovery around 6:41am. Cady Way Trail isn’t new to violence though. In January, Orange County deputies found a man shot to death near where the bodies were found.

Less than three days later, the names of the victims were released to be declared as Nicholas “Nic” Presha, 16, and Jeremy Stewart, 18, of Winter Park High School. Sheriffs are calling the case “two teenagers murdered by some savage who’s out there” as they have still yet to come across details to help them find the boys’ killer(s). Administrators at Winter Park High School notified the student body of the deaths this past Wednesday. Many students were greatly troubled and upset by the killing and are demanding justice. A reward donation is even being collected in an attempt to weed out information surrounding the deaths of the boys.

My question is, how do such good students get wrapped into bad situations such as these? Is it a case of bad luck? Or is it something else?

Stewart’s father, in a radio interview, said he knew no reason his son would have been targeted and asked the public to help deputies solve the crime. He described his son as, “hands down, my best buddy ever.” Along with love from other students, one could take away that both of the victims were great kids with nothing punishable to their names.

I firmly believe that no one deserves to die, over simple things, or at the victims age, but is the media giving us the full story? Similar to the Trayvon Martin case, I feel as if details are being left out as a plan to see this crime as  senseless, at random, killing.

Some “other” details I’ve come across include a prior police report including both the boys being arrested on January 10 of this year. They both received charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest without violence. Because of their age, both were charged as juveniles. The student victims entered a Teen Court program, a course that allows minors to avoid prosecution if they stay out of trouble.

If both the boys received these charges only three months ago, what might they have been up to now? What other details will rise from the deputies and detectives. Were drugs involved? I never know how to feel toward these stories due to the media headlines. Not until you read into it will you find the details that slowly begin to help you form a true honest-to-yourself opinion.

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