Saturday, November 19, 2005
Family and church members are caring for the children.
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) -- A husband and wife who were shot to death in their home last weekend were mourned Saturday by about 500 people, including their five children, at the chapel of a Christian college.
Michael and Cathryn Borden were killed by their 14-year-old daughter's boyfriend David Ludwig, police said, following a heated, hourlong discussion early Nov. 13 about the teens' relationship.
The Bordens were a devoted couple, friend Rex Trogden said during the service, which was held amid tight security at Lancaster Bible College.
"They loved each other deeply and they always kept each other in mind whenever decisions had to be made," Trogden said.
The funeral came one day after attorneys for Ludwig, 18, filed court papers saying surveillance videos from various stores will "serve to negate" charges he kidnapped the Bordens' daughter Kara after her parents were killed.
Police caught up to Ludwig and Kara after a high-speed chase Monday ended with him crashing his parents' car into a tree in Belleville, Ind. The two were flown back to Pennsylvania the next day.
Some of what was said
On Saturday, Kara sat with her four siblings in the front row of the chapel as family friend Bill Bradford told mourners that each Borden child embodied different aspects of their parents' personalities.
"Kara has the ability to reach out in compassion and touch even the most unlovely people," Bradford said.
Speaking to reporters before the funeral, as mourners filed past the pair of wood grain coffins, church elder David Sheaffer said there didn't appear to be a strain between Kara and the other children.
"From what I understand, the family has been supportive and has not been pointing fingers," Sheaffer said.
The Bordens' two adult sons live in Maryland and Illinois; Kara and another son and daughter still live at home. The children are being cared for by family and church members, Sheaffer said.
Earlier Saturday, white ribbons could be seen affixed to mailboxes on the Warwick Township street where the Bordens lived. It was a show of support for the family and neighborhood, said resident Bill Quinn.
Quinn, the Bordens' next-door neighbor, said the scope of the tragedy was "still tough to grasp."
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