A horror story unfolds

It didn't take long for comparisons to be drawn between Eldon Samuel III and Harvey Spencer Stephens.

Eldon is the 14-year-old boy accused of murdering his father and his brother in a Coeur d'Alene transitional home Monday night.

Harvey is the boy who played Damien Thorn in the 1976 occult thriller, "The Omen." Visual comparisons between the two are uncanny. Personality comparisons, while unfortunate, are perhaps inevitable.

At this moment, Eldon isn't guilty of anything. He has been charged and will apparently stand trial as an adult in the bloody double homicide. He'll have his day in court, and until then, you will be far from alone in wondering what could possess a child - any child - to commit the heinous acts this boy is accused of committing.

What we do know is that unlike the eventual disposal of a killer like Joseph E. Duncan III, who slaughtered innocent people here in 2005, the case of Eldon Samuel III will bring no sense of satisfaction to society. If he killed his father and his brother, the adolescent faces a lifetime of nothing but pain; perhaps many, many years of it. If he didn't commit the crimes, his life has still been ruined. He has lost his father and his brother, and shadows of doubt will follow him forever.

Eldon's father and brother aren't the only victims. Our compassion goes out to those who, in official capacities, had to be on scene in the slayings' aftermath and no doubt will revisit that horror for the rest of their lives. So, too, do we sympathize with those who must begin to piece together not just what happened Monday night, but in the years leading up to that tragic event.

Our thoughts are also with the many good folks at St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho. It was in their house that the unthinkable took place. When you work every day with people who have hit rock bottom, you learn to celebrate even the smallest victories. You do your best to prepare for bad news because that's the norm, not the exception. Still, nothing can prepare you for what happened under your roof on Monday night. And nothing can make it go away.

It is our hope that justice is served, but also that help is rendered where it's needed most.