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Teen suspects in slaying used MySpace as haven

Postings likely continued after woman's death

Published March 3, 2007 at midnight

The teen suspects in the death of a 52-year-old Lafayette woman, including her own daughter, continued to pour their thoughts onto their My-Space Web sites long after police believe the woman's body was stashed and decomposing in a car in her garage.

On Feb. 19, for example, 17-year-old suspect Bryan Grove, offered up these snippets on his MySpace blog: "I did things that I shouldn't have . . . but I did them . . . with my two hands . . . and one foot. . . . I hate myself for it."

Lafayette police believe Linda Juergens may have been dead for weeks when, acting on a tip, they discovered her body Wednesday. The Daily Camera reported that the body was found in the back of Juergens' Subaru wagon in the garage. Juergens was also known as Linda Damm, her married name.

She died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the neck, according to the Boulder County coroner.

On Friday, Boulder County Magistrate T.J. Cole ordered Juergens' daughter, Tess Damm, 16, and Jared Smith, 16, held without bond in the Boulder County Juvenile Detention Center. They are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to face formal charges.

Grove, Damm's boyfriend, according to strongly worded his-and-her postings on My-Space, waived his right to the hearing and also remains in juvenile detention without bond.

During a recent period of time that neighbors described as two weeks or longer, Damm and Grove were seen coming and going frequently from Juergens' home at 705 Brome Place. Neighbors said loud music played from the home at all hours.

Meanwhile, teenage angst poured from the MySpace pages of sweethearts Damm and Grove, as they communicated with each other and friends.

As recently as Monday, Grove posted a poem beginning, "Have you noticed . . . the screams painted on the walls, have you seen, the mirrors on my eyes, have you heard, the growth in these veins, do you know, what lies beneath the surface?"

In January, Damm, a high school sophomore with a spotty attendance record, wrote about her "messed up" life.

She described the strained relationship between herself and her mother. She said she tried moving to California with an aunt. She tried moving in with friends. Finally, she and Grove moved in with Juergens.

In one spot, she blamed her move to California on her mother's alleged drinking problem. In another, it was because she had stolen her mother's car.

She wrote about Grove and how they get into "stupid little fights" but that she "can't live without him." She noted that their anniversary is Halloween.

In response, Grove posted a note saying how much he loves her and how the two were meant to be together.

On his page, featuring a brooding, winged creature being embraced by a glowing angel and the word "death," Grove warned people to stay away from Damm.

"I will slit your throat," he wrote.

Tess Damm's father, Mike Damm, 47, of Fond du Lake, Wis., said he was married to Juergens for four years but that they lived together for only two of them. He said he has not seen his daughter since she was 4. He said he reached out to her throughout the years but got no response.

Damm said he gave consent for police to interview his daughter last week.

"We're still in shock," Damm said Friday. "We don't know anything."

Feelings revealed

Writings by teen murder suspects Bryan Grove and Tess Damm on MySpace.com:

• On Feb. 19, Grove wrote, "I just want to take a hammer to my head . . . a needle to my veins . . . I just want to drink a barrel of cyanide . . . to make this pain go away . . . its what I deserve for what i did."

On Feb. 11, Grove wrote, "My heart has already broken, cause I had to depart from you."

Last November, Damm wrote, "My name is Tess . . . and I'm an alcoholic. Let me start from the beginning. This is my story. Since before I was born, my mom has been an alcoholic. An angry, raging, functional alcoholic.

"Until I was eleven, I had no idea what an alcoholic was. I thought that everybody's parents acted like that, 24/7. But they don't. And they shouldn't. But my mom did. Sometimes it got violent. Other times it just got annoying. Having to take care of her all the time. Making sure she didn't drink and drive, or do other things that could be possibly harmful.

"Then I stopped caring as much. I went out at night, didn't come home til noon the next day. "

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