A Parent from In Good Hands

I had lunch with Davis Daniel the day he was featured in an article in The State  about the parents of the children who died. Davis was accompanied by his current wife, Cindy Daniel, who runs a business that does criminal background checks for clients. She emphasizes the importance of checking out day care providers before enrolling children.

The lawyer who prosecuted Gail Cutro, Johnny Gasser, was also at our lunch, as was the state police lieutenant who led the investigation, Patsy Habben—now Patsy Lightle. Gasser is a defense lawyer these days. Lightle retired from the state police a few years ago and now spends much of her time teaching and consulting on child homicides.

It was a quiet occasion in the back room of a Greek restaurant. Davis and Cindy had been interviewed at length for the article, and the experience had been wrenching. Davis had also spoken about the healing he’d experienced over the years. Still, he looked drained.

There was one passage in the article that was… I don’t know what to call it. Eerie? Davis told the reporter that he and his wife usually visit his daughter Ashlan’s grave twice a year: on her birthday and on the day she died (April 9). But this year, he went every day during the week of her death.

“I don’t know what it was,” he said. “I just felt the need to be there.”

He didn’t know at the time that my book about Ashlan’s death was published that very same week.

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