Debbie quietly recounts the moment of arriving at home and walking through the front door. “I didn’t notice the red blinking light on the answering machine with several messages on it. As Nancy and I prepared to get comfortable in the living room, the phone abruptly rang with a loud shriek, echoing throughout the house. I decided to go ahead and answer the phone, even though I didn’t normally interrupt AA-sponsored sessions.”

Uriah’s aunt was calling from Placerville. Aunt Serena frantically screamed into the phone, “Why haven’t you picked up your messages? I have been calling all day!” She then screamed in exhaustion that “someone killed Uriah!”

Serena, having been frantic all day trying to reach Johnny and Debbie, broke down and sobbed, releasing all the pent-up tension and anxiety she had stored inside herself all day. She was grief-stricken as she sobbed into the phone.

Upon hearing Serena scream into the phone that Uriah had been killed, Debbie stated, “There was this eerie silence of disbelief, and then I went absolutely NUMB. I couldn’t speak, and my mind was racing as the blood drained out of my face.” Debbie continued, “Even though my mind whirled with so many thoughts, I did have one main concern,” and that was “How was I going to tell Johnny about his son? Would he break his sobriety and start drinking again?” She feared the worst and was so afraid he might start using cocaine again. She suddenly felt so fearful of what his reaction might be upon hearing this horrible news.