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A lasting tribute
Friends of Lisk, Silva girls
dedicate garden monument
The scene at yesterday's memorial dedication service in Spotsylvania County was all too familiar--teen-age girls wiping away tears, holding on to each other and to their memories.
They gathered to remember three slain county girls, 16-year-old Sofia Silva, 15-year-old Kristin Lisk and 12-year-old Kati Lisk.
Those names are now etched into a small stone monument in the middle of a memorial garden. The garden is outside the Spotsylvania Community Center in the old Spotsylvania Middle School building on Courthouse Road.
The monument is made of green marble shaped like a leaf with a bright red ladybug in the middle. The inscription reads: "Forever Young, Forever in Our Hearts." Beneath the girls' names are the words, " ... they were taken from us too soon."
Sofia disappeared from the front steps of her parents' Oak Grove Terrace home on Sept. 9. Her body was found in a King George County creek five weeks later.
Kristin and Kati were reported missing on May 1. Their bodies were discovered floating in a Hanover County river five days later.
No arrest has been made in the girls' deaths, though authorities say they are still pursuing leads. Police believe a single killer is responsible for the three slayings.
Donna Nuzum, Spotsylvania and Caroline County field executive for the Commonwealth Girl Scout Council, said the Scouts wanted to do something to show their support for the girls' families. She said the monument design was chosen because of the girls' love of nature and Kristin's penchant for ladybugs.
Purple pansies surround the foot of the stone. Planted nearby are purple chrysanthemums and a pink rhododendron. Purple was Sofia's favorite color.
Nuzum said more flowers will come up in the spring and the Girl Scouts will maintain the garden, which has a wooden bench nearby.
Several Girl Scouts fought back tears as they read poems in memory of the girls.
Among the crowd of about 40 huddling against the cold for the ceremony were Sofia's parents, Humberto and Phyliss Silva, and the Lisk sisters' father, Ron Lisk. After the readings were over, Phyliss Silva thanked the Girl Scouts for their support.
She later hugged them one by one.
