Alvin Melleth

But pretty soon I realized that Marcia chafes at that kind of thing.

It's not that Marcia doesn't feel the loss, of course.

She does, acutely.

Desi's murder defines her, even if that's sometimes hard to put into words.

Marsha's grief is enormous, but it's not sentimental.

She doesn't shy away from the hard stuff.

She's too much of a brass tacks type of person for that.

So here we are to talk about the murder of her daughter and the execution of David Wood.

We get down to brass tacks.

Back in 1987, Marsha Fulton, who was Marsha Wheatley at the time, was divorced and raising her two teenage daughters in El Paso.

Desi was the younger one, a real spitfire, according to Marsha.

Her middle school friends would later describe her as the life of the party and a bit of a risk-taker, chatting up strangers, occasionally even hitchhiking.

On the last day of eighth grade, Desi stayed out to celebrate.

When Marsha got home from her work shift, it was after midnight, and Desi hadn't come home.

So she drove around looking for her.

And when she couldn't find her, she called the police.

Desi's remains were found in a shallow grave, in a patch of desert covered in brush and trash.

Marsha knew it was her daughter in part because police found her T-shirt, where other eighth graders had signed their names on the last day of school.

Two weeks after Desi's remains were found, Marsha held a funeral.

Marsha has been determined to keep her promise to Desi.