Alex Kotlowitz

Carla tried to protect others in the family, and that brought her into direct conflict with her dad, like one of the times he went after her mother.

How old were you?

This is all important to know in order to understand what happened next.

Shortly after Carla's dad drove out of town, Carla picked up the Times Indicator, the local newspaper, and read that on the very same night her dad didn't come home, just hours before she found him in the driveway fixing his busted side-view mirror, a 19-year-old woman had been killed on a nearby road, a deep gash in her head.

In the article, the sheriff said, and I quote, we assume she was hit by an unknown vehicle, maybe by a mirror or some projection.

At first she went to her minister, who urged her to go to the police, which she did the very next day.

She had a friend drive her to the police station in town, where she learned that the detective in charge of the case wasn't in.

So she left him a note.

See, Carla laid out two possible scenarios for the detectives.

One, that her father accidentally struck this girl while driving home from the Lamplight Bar.

That seemed likely given his shattered side view mirror and his eagerness to get out of town.

The other, well, she thought it was possible that her father had killed Christy Ringley on purpose.

that knowing her dad, maybe he tried to flirt with Christy at the lamplight, that maybe she'd repelled his advances, and that maybe on the way home he saw her on the road and rammed her with his side-view mirror.

Carla now believes, though, that the speculative scenario didn't sit too well with the detectives.

Were you conscious about living in a trailer, about being poor?

So the detectives leave, and you know in your heart of hearts that your dad was somehow involved in the death of this girl.

What do you do with that knowledge?

When she looks back on it, this was the moment of truth.

This was her opportunity to act.

And she feels like she just gave up without any kind of fight.