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November 23, 2005

Kara Beth Borden: Not Involved In Parents' Killings

PHILADELPHIA - Kara Beth Borden, the 14-year-old who fled with her boyfriend, David Ludwig, after he is alleged to have gunned down her parents in the family's Lititz, Pa., home, was not involved in planning their deaths, her attorney said Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, prosecutors released details of an interview with Ludwig in which the 18-year-old, an experienced hunter, said he made the decision to shoot Michael and Cathryn Borden, both 50, after being told his relationship with their daughter could not continue.

"I did not aim," Ludwig told police, chronicling the events of Nov. 13. "I have a lot of shooting experience, and I usually hit what I shoot at."

Asked whether Kara Borden ever asked him to kill her parents, Ludwig said no, court documents state.

Borden deserves protection "as a witness and a victim," her attorney, Robert D. Beyer, said Tuesday. The fact that she accompanied Ludwig willingly after he fired a bullet each into her parents does not mean she had any role in the homicides, Beyer said.

"You can't make that quantum leap," Beyer said, adding that the crimes may have sent the girl into shock. "People are forgetting the fact that she's a 14-year-old girl," he said.

Ludwig, who was apprehended in Indiana with Borden, initially faced murder and kidnapping charges. However, prosecutors said Monday that they planned to withdraw the kidnapping charge because Borden told detectives she voluntarily accompanied Ludwig.

In an application seeking electronic records, prosecutors said Tuesday that "it is reasonable to believe that David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden used their cellular telephones, computers, and even their respective Web pages on xanga.com to communicate with one another right up until the time of the double homicide."

A search of Ludwig's home on Nov. 14 resulted in seizure of his laptop computer, on which were stored images of Kara Borden in "various stages of undress." Ludwig and Borden, who met through a Christian homeschooling network, were involved in a clandestine sexual relationship, according to court records and friends.

The most recent court filing details an interview Lancaster, Pa., police conducted with Ludwig in Indiana on Nov. 14, the day he was taken into custody. Ludwig was apprehended after a high-speed chase ended when he crashed his family's Volkswagen Jetta into a tree. Neither he nor Borden was injured.

According to the document, Ludwig took Borden home at 5 a.m. on Nov. 13, after she stayed the night at his house. Friends of Kara Borden's have said that the Bordens forbade the couple from dating because they believed Ludwig was too old.

"As was customary," Ludwig waited for Borden to text-message him via her cell phone to tell him she made it to her room undetected. Ludwig told police he became worried when several messages went unanswered.

When the two finally connected by cell phone shortly after 6:15 a.m., Ludwig learned that Borden "was caught and her parents were there." They wanted him to come to the house, she said.

Ludwig said he grabbed several weapons and proceeded to the Borden home. He told Lancaster detectives he "concealed a Glock under his pants, wrapped a blanket around a hunting knife and a .22 Ruger pistol, and left the remainder of the weapons in the car. He said after a 30- to 45-minute conversation, Borden's father said the relationship had to end.

"It was at this point," according to the documents, "that Ludwig said he made up his mind" and decided to shoot the parents.

After shooting the Bordens with the .40-caliber Glock, Ludwig said he could not locate his girlfriend, who had been in the kitchen. He left the house and started to drive away, "but after driving 30 feet, he says he turned around to go back ... even if it meant that he would be caught."

Ludwig traveled only about 15 feet when he saw Kara Borden "running down the road toward him, so he drove up to her, opened the door, and she got in."

Ludwig said he told Borden that he had shot, and probably killed, her parents. He said he and Borden decided "to get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life."

After the shootings, police seized 54 guns from the home where Ludwig lived with his parents, according to court documents. Police believe the pair was headed to Minnesota, where Ludwig has relatives, when police intercepted him in Belleville, Ind., about 20 miles west of Indianapolis.

Ludwig is being held at Lancaster County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled on Dec. 16.

In addition to Kara Beth, two of the Bordens' five children - David, 11, and Katelyn, 15 - were in the house when the shootings occurred, police said. The Bordens' other children are Justin, 21, of Maryland and James, 25, of Illinois.

KellyMarie Conlon and another Borden family friend, Zach Acox, high school friends of James Borden's, have worked to set up a trust fund for the children.

Tuesday Conlon wondered if news that Borden willingly ran away with her parents' alleged killer would discourage people from making donations.

"All I can say is, I hope it doesn't affect fundraising," Conlon said, adding that there may be a benefit concert. "There are still four other children besides Kara who are now parentless."

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/13236996.htm

Posted by Nealus at November 23, 2005 07:12 PM

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