Carrie's Grief Counselor

We're just trying to put one foot in front of the other and get through this. This is...

My sisters came over and I told them, let's just grieve and let this go.

Something wasn't right.

I remember Nancy saying, Linda, have you ever considered that perhaps Carrie didn't take her life? I remember stammering and saying, what are you talking about?

Murder, I mean, that's just not something that I could wrap my head around. I needed time to think, to process. This was too difficult for me to be able to discuss.

And I immediately figured out it was Vanessa Bowles.

I would email them. I would go, good morning, angels.

I talked to Matt about the crushed pills.

And it was about that time where Matt's story no longer made sense. There were inconsistencies, outright lies, and we needed more answers.

Her faith was the core of who she was. And so it was very important to her that she found someone whose faith was aligned with hers.

I called them my guys, and they became as invested in this case as if they were fighting for their own child.

Carrie, she was always the bubbly little blonde and just loved life. People were drawn to Carrie.

You don't quickly dress a dead body.

We tried to talk Carrie into waiting a little longer. She really did not want to. Carrie was looking for a husband with morals and values that were similar to what she had. And Matt, she believed, had those.

We knew there was going to be a birthday party. And we took a picture of all the girls and Matt and Vanessa.

Carrie wanted children. She always had, and she was a wonderful mother.

That made her angry, and she was going to leave him. I suggested they get counseling.

We had Bill Johnston, and we were going to continue civilly.

We went to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth.

What I saw from Vanessa's testimony was a man who was much more evil than even I believed he was.

Carrie had been taking over-the-counter sleep aid since Cassidy died.

I'm talking to you, Matt, today, okay? You haven't looked at me in almost four years. Can you look at me today?

Yeah, we asked him to give the call.

I'm talking to you, Matt, today, okay? You haven't looked at me in almost four years. Can you look at me today?

What helped Carrie, in addition to her faith and her family, was she saw a grief counselor for a year.

And then you took her from us, Matt. You discarded her like she was yesterday's trash. You murdered the mother of your children. But love trumps evil. I don't know why, but I felt pity for him.

Their mother was erased from them. They need to know she loved them, and she didn't leave them by choice.

I just told Carrie that men and women often grieve in different ways.

We received a phone call from the 911 operator telling us that we needed to get over to my daughter's house, that there had been an accident and we needed to get over there immediately.

We ran out of the car and as I started running up to the front of the house, an EMT person stood in front of me and grabbed me and told me that my daughter was dead.