When I was home in White Bear Lake over Christmas, a kid from WBL went missing.
Nick Rossini was a West Point cadet home for the holidays, like me.
Unlike me, he got drunk, smashed up a parked car with his mom's car, got pulled over by the cops, bailed out by his family, and after a reported scolding at home, wandered off in the middle of the night and has not been seen since.
The case has just stuck in my head ever since. His parents are still holding out some hope that he was just worried that West Point would kick him out (they said they wouldn't), and that he's hiding somewhere. But he didn't take a car, wallet, cell phone, etc. I've had the lurching bad feeling since this happened that he blindly walked out onto the thin ice of White Bear or Bald Eagle Lake and it just gave way beneath his feet. Minnesota's lakes are unforgiving, especially in the dead of a December night.
The Strib, my old paper, has a story about how Nick's mom happens to work at a WBL grade school with another mom who eerily lost a son in a very similar way some years ago. I hope they are both able to find answers, and some peace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Does anyone else think that, about the ice-covered lake? Have you shared that suspicion with anyone?
Oh yes, no need to remind Minnesotans to check the lakes, it's just a huge surface and very unlikely anything will be found at this time of year, even if it is what happened. So sad.
One of the articles I read stated that there were fly overs covering three local lakes - and yet, being a Southern, I'm ignorant as to how the ice reforms and to what signs it leaves... if any. I worry for this family and the unrealistic burden Nick may have felt he shouldered. I pray for only good news, and yet I hope this family has some sort of closure soon.
I have known Nick and his family since I was 5 years old. His family was like a second family to me in some respects. Nick graduated with me and we both recieved the Academic Basketball Scholarship. He is one of the most amazing people I know and this really is not in his character. His family is still hoping but are being realistic. They know that the odds are stacked against them. The police searched the three closest lakes to our houses (I live a few blocks away) many times and found nothing. He is a smart man and a survivor. Hopefully I will get to see him soon.
Post a Comment