My friend Rita is dead and I want to know why.

She was put in jail 7 months ago for telling her counselor the truth about a mistake she made. Stress got the best of her and she dropped her baby off a 20 foot balcony.

She was only 19 when she got pregnant with her son Connor. It turned her life around. She stopped smoking and drinking and started eating healthy and learning about how to take care of her new baby. She had never had a baby before but the mother instinct set in and she became a good mother.

I liked Rita and visited her often. I witnessed first hand the love and care she gave her new son. He was always clean and fed and happy. I watched her give her baby quality attention. She put him first ahead of herself like all good mothers. The father was an invalid that was unable to help and only gave Rita more work. He drank a lot and did drugs all while Rita took care of him and their baby. I looked at Rita and saw a true saint.

It was very hard to believe that she did what she did and dropped Connor. Things happen under stress and she was definitely under stress living with no car up in the mountains taking care of a little baby and her boyfriend on crutches.

Rita told me that her family was not involved in her life. This made me even feel more sorry for her. I visited her in jail a few times and left a little money on her books. In fact that was what I was doing the day she died. I was at the jail to schedule a visit. The lady behind the desk looked at me funny and said she could not schedule a visit for Rita but she did take $20 for her books and told me to call around 4PM to schedule. When I called I was told over the phone that she had passed away earlier that morning.

The last time I saw Rita was April 24th in the evening. She normally had a smile on her face but this time she was crying hysterically. It took her awhile to compose herself enough to talk. She said that some of the inmates were giving her grief and that she will be so happy when she gets out. It was hard to witness Rita in this state of despair. She is so sensitive and the people were so hard on her. Only one more week and she would finally get a trial and she felt strongly that she would be vindicated.

I personably know what it is like in the SC jail. I spent five days there myself for a false charge and know how brutal the conditions and the people, both guards and inmates. I am a strong man and she was a fragile young girl and I can't even imagine the torment she had to endure for seven months and not even know where her baby is. Why was she there for so long? Who killed her? Her inmate that could get drugs?

I think the system failed her and ultimately killed her. She was the most beautiful person and should never have been put in a place like that with criminals and insensitive cops. I got one last letter yesterday from her and it was a hard one to read knowing that she lays in a morgue. Her love was the kind that will never die. It is sad that her son will never know her. It is a sad world when a beautiful person like Rita gets a raw deal and life goes on like nothing happened.

We love you Rita and always will. Life was too cruel for you but I know you are in a better place now.