http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...lationship


By MARTHA RAFFAELE, Associated Press Writer
54 minutes ago



LITITZ, Pa. - Kara Borden sat with her four siblings in the chapel of Lancaster Bible College for her parents' funeral on Saturday. On the Bordens' street, white ribbons were affixed to mailboxes to honor their memory.

The relationship between 18-year-old David Ludwig and 14-year-old Borden was a closely guarded secret. There was good reason to keep things quiet: Their four-year age difference displeased their parents.

The tensions in the Borden house apparently spilled over last Sunday, when police say Ludwig fatally shot Kara's parents, Michael and Cathryn Borden, after an argument about their relationship, then fled with the girl. The two were found the following day after a chase and crash in Indiana. Ludwig is being held without bail on murder and kidnapping charges; Kara in the care of relatives and church members.

"They weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend because their parents didn't approve of them being together," said 16-year-old Stephanie Mannon, one of Kara's neighbors. "Sometimes they would secretly get together."

Neighbors say the two teens met at a support group for home-schooled students. Kara's sister, Katelyn, told police she met Ludwig in May and saw him regularly at the group.

"They were good kids and they were brought up very well. What I see is, they just made some bad choices," said Vera Zimmerman, 50, who has known the Bordens for seven years and is acquainted with Ludwig's mother.

Kara has been described by neighbors and friends as a bubbly, outgoing girl who occasionally baby-sat younger children in her neighborhood and liked to play soccer. She regularly attended youth group meetings and got along well with her sister, said Kevin Eshleman, executive pastor of Ephrata Community Church.

"In my mind, that generally indicates that things are going OK at home," Eshleman said.

There were indications, however, that there was tension between Kara and her parents. Zimmerman recalled a conversation several months ago in which Cathryn Borden expressed concern about her daughter's interest in boys.

"At one point, they had cut off her Internet service because of her connection with David," Zimmerman said.

A close friend of Ludwig's, Samuel P. Lohr, told police he was "well aware" that the two "were involved in an ongoing secret intimate relationship of a sexual nature," according to a search-warrant affidavit filed in court. The two often exchanged flirtatious messages and inappropriate images electronically, the affidavit said.

Ludwig may have had a dark side, according to court documents released Friday. In an 18-minute video recovered from a laptop computer in his home, Ludwig discusses plans to conduct an armed raid on another family's home. The video shows him and another teen taking guns to a home, but court documents say they scrapped the plan because there was too much traffic.

Police have said Kara Borden is a victim in the case, but Ludwig filed court papers saying surveillance videos from various stores along the route he drove will prove she wasn't kidnapped.

Other friends say they didn't know of a relationship. Isaiah Bomberger, a 17-year-old fellow home-schooler, said he and Ludwig expected to graduate at the end of this school year.

"They were friends, but I couldn't have said they were boyfriend and girlfriend," Bomberger said. He said he couldn't believe the news about the killings.

___

Associated Press Writer Mark Scolforo contributed to this report.

Update

http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...ents_slain


By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago



LANCASTER, Pa. - A 14-year-old girl whose 18-year-old boyfriend is accused of killing her parents left with him willingly after the slayings, prosecutors said in court papers filed Monday.

David Ludwig told detectives Kara Borden ran from her home and into his car after he shot her parents Nov. 13, and Borden said she went with him of her own free will, according to documents filed by Lancaster County prosecutors. They said kidnapping charges against Ludwig would be dropped.

Ludwig confessed to the killings, saying he shot the parents after the father told him to stop seeing his daughter, according to the filing. Ludwig said he shot Michael Borden in the back as he was going down the hallway to the front door and then headed toward Cathryn Borden.

"I shot mom as she was sitting in the chair," Ludwig was quoted as saying. "It was an intentional murder, I intended to shoot them, and I did."

Ludwig told detectives that after the killings, he couldn't find Kara Borden. He said he started to drive away and saw her running down the road toward him.

She got in the car and said she wanted to "get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life," Ludwig told detectives.

District Attorney Donald Totaro said the kidnapping charge against Ludwig, of Lititz, will be dropped at his preliminary hearing next month.

Robert Beyer, an attorney representing Kara Borden, said he was not upset by the news that the kidnapping charge would be dropped.

Investigators have said they are treating Kara Borden as a crime victim but that the investigation is continuing.

Police caught up to Ludwig and Borden the day after the killings following a chase that ended with him crashing his parents' car into a tree in Belleville, Ind.

Earlier Monday, Indiana authorities released a search warrant affidavit for the car the couple drove nearly 600 miles from the murder scene in central Pennsylvania to Indiana.

Ludwig told Indiana State Police that a Glock semiautomatic pistol he used to kill the Bordens was under the driver's front seat of the car, according to the affidavit.

Police seized a .40-caliber Glock pistol and a .223-caliber rifle under a search warrant executed Wednesday.

Ludwig is being held without bail, awaiting a Dec. 16 preliminary hearing on murder charges.

In a signed statement he gave to Pennsylvania authorities, Ludwig said he went to the Borden home armed with several weapons. After Kara's father and Ludwig talked for 30 to 45 minutes, Michael Borden told the teen he could no longer see Kara.

"Ludwig said that's why he decided to shoot her dad and her mom," detectives said in the court papers.

James Gratton, a public defender representing Ludwig, said he was aware that Ludwig had given a statement to Indiana authorities, but did not know specifically what he told them.

In a court filing Friday, Ludwig's attorneys said they wanted investigators to preserve evidence in Ludwig's wallet, such as receipts from their journey, so that surveillance video could be obtained. They said the video would show he didn't kidnap the girl.