When I am doing stories, especially when it relates to crime, many times it is easy to concentrate on who was the suspect in the crime and not the victim.
We all want to see the victim come to justice, but we forget about the victims of the crime. We have to remember that they are the ones who have to make sense of what happened and clean up the mess of what’s left behind.
That is what Keith Rice is literally having to do. He’s having to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess that was left behind.
Having hindsight vision, it’s easy realize that he shouldn’t have trusted his housesitter, but if you put yourself in his shoes, there was no red flags or reason that he couldn’t trust her to take care of his dogs and upkeep his house.
I felt overwhelmed for Keith as we talked last week at the enormous job he has to get his house back in order.
Thankfully, his dogs came back home. That’s a tremendous blessing. He has companions with his dogs to help him be able to process what all happened.
However, it’s going to take a lot for him to get back on his feet. A Gofundme campaign has raised nearly $1,000 to help him get started, but there is no doubt he will need more help.
He’s received some help already. Jackie Therrian has helped him with food and some medicines for his dogs. A lady is helping clean up his trailer. By Friday, his bedroom was nearly sanitized, but he still has mounds of mess that needs to be hauled off or disposed of in some way.
And after the mess is cleaned up, he’s going to need help to replace the things he’s had to throw out.
If you want to read more or consider giving, check out his Gofundme page at https://gofund.me/e2a574f7.
Brent can be reached at bmaze@newtoncountyappeal.com.
