As their desks sat empty, classmates tried to light their way home for three weeks. Now these students in LeRoy are left wondering why Jack and Duncan won't come back.
"On a day like today, there are going to be some questions asked in classrooms that don't have anything to do with math or science or reading," LeRoy Schools Superintendent Gary Tipsord says.
On this somber school day, extra grief counselors were brought in for all the students.
"You're going to have high school students that babysat these kids. You're going to have high school students that drove them to and from wrestling practice. You're going have that kind of impact in a small town," Tipsord says.
The bad news goes well beyond the school though because the entire community came together to try and bring the boys home. They tied blue and green ribbons all over town. They handed out flyers at truck stops. And, they held prayer vigils as they held out hope.
"It's just very tragic. I wouldn't think it would happen here," Brandy Spray, a LeRoy mother of two, says.
Jack and Duncan's mom did believe the worst could happen when she spoke to us two days after her boys went missing.
"He's (Michael Connolly) about punishing me, and he knows the worst thing to do to me is to lose those boys and I don't know what he's capable of," Amy Leitchenberg said on March 10th.
Leitchenberg has said she tried to warn the courts about her former husband's erratic behavior. That's why in a statement released Monday through a family friend, she says she feels the judicial system failed her and prays for the courts to listen to future warnings from parents like her.
She also says her heart is broken and no words can express her pain.
A pain felt throughout the community.
"I feel so bad for her. It must be awful. I can't imagine what she's feeling right now," Spray says.
Grief Counselors were available at the high school cafeteria until eight Monday night for parents, students and community members.
CINewsNow Notifier
Twitter
Connect With Us