Slayings highlight how easily teens can keep secrets from their parents

(Every parent and family needs to be vigilant.)

By KATHLEEN BRADY SHEA and SANDY BAUERS, Knight Ridder Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA – Perfect parents. Perfect home. Perfect kids. Or so it seemed.

Then, unbelievably, two families in agony. A community in shock.

The double-murder case in Lititz, Pa., – 18-year-old David Ludwig charged with shooting the parents of his secret girlfriend, Kara Beth Borden, a 14-year-old he met in their Christian homeschooling network – has provoked more than speculation about the Nov. 13 incident itself.

It has caused a wave of anxiety among many parents in the region, who wonder if anything ever truly is what it seems with their children.

“It’s so frightening,” said Kathy Roth of Lititz, mother of an 18-year-old daughter who has graduated from high school and lives at home.

You monitor them, you stay observant, you lead by example, “but what if it’s not enough?” Roth asked. “I guess you just never know. That’s the scary part.”

The Bordens and Ludwigs were, by all accounts, involved in their children’s lives.

Zach Acox, who went to school with the oldest of the five Borden children and has set up a trust fund for the family, said the Bordens were loving, supportive and “devoted” to their children.

Michael Borden, who worked at a scientific publisher in Ephrata, Pa., was an elder and a popular Sunday school teacher at his evangelical Plymouth Brethren church. His wife, Cathryn, was educating the family’s three school-age children, including Kara Beth, who baby-sat, was a fan of Christian rock bands and loved to play soccer. The parents had laid down the law