LAFAYETTE - Yellow daisies left as a tribute to Linda Juergens have started to wilt.

Police have torn down the crime scene tape that encircled the 52-year-old's home in the days after her body was discovered decaying inside.

But neighbors are still struggling to understand what some consider inconceivable allegations: that Juergens' own daughter, 16-year-old Tess Damm, and two other teens stabbed the woman, then partied while trying to decide what to do with the corpse.

All three have been arrested and are locked up, awaiting a formal filing of charges on Wednesday.

"I can't think a nice girl like Tess could do that," neighbor Steve Weddig said Sunday.

Shock and disbelief are common when children are accused of killing their parents. But sadly, experts say, statistics show the cases are not all that rare.

Since 1970, about 22 percent of parent homicides in America were committed by a child younger than 18, said Kathleen Heide, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida and author of Why Kids Kill Parents.

There are several factors that could drive children to kill their parents, Heide said. In some high-profile cases in Colorado and other parts of the country, there have been allegations of parental abuse. In many cases, however, the motive has remained less clear.

Experts say there are warning signs, but "the critical thing is to find the cause," Heide said.

Neither Tess Damm, nor the other suspects - her 17-year-old boyfriend, Bryan Grove, and their 16-year-old friend, Jared Smith - have been charged in Juergens' death. And charges are a far cry from a conviction.

But Tess' own words, told through her MySpace.com blog, echo many of the commonalities psychologists and others see in cases of kids who kill.

• Dysfunctional relationships, sometimes plagued by drugs or alcohol

"Everyone knows the story of me and my mom," Tess wrote in one posting. "I could write a book about how confusing it is trying to please that woman . . . and trying to do whatever I can to get her to stop drinking."

• An unstable home environment

"My life is so discombobuleted (sic). Everything is falling apart and deteriorating," Tess wrote. "I tried to get (my mother) help. I tried moving to California. I tried moving back to Colorado. I tried moving in with (friends). Then moving back home with Bryan. And it's just never enough."

What Tess wrote on her blog did not make her look like a sweet little girl, but there isn't enough information yet about what was going on behind closed doors, said Del Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"We still have to find out what was happening at home," Elliott said.

How a child is raised is a big factor in youth violence, he said.

A parent who fails to provide a stable environment and either neglects or abuses a child has higher odds of having a violent child, Elliott said.

• A history of mental illness or behavioral problems

"\[Background INFO = = I'm Bi-Polar]" Tess wrote, adding later, "Anyone with Bi-Polar knows that the more you contain your anger, the worse it becomes. But I try anyways, and it kills me."

It is unclear whether Tess Damm has been diagnosed with any disorder, but mental illness can keep a child from having a sense of reality and knowing right from wrong, Heide said.

"The killing is a byproduct of their disorder," she said. "They might hear voices or act on what they think God or Satan says."

• Problems getting along socially and at school

"Frankly, I'm tired of spending my life trying to convince people I can make it. Sometimes I wonder if I should just drop out when I can, and just make everyone happy," Tess wrote. "Like, no one has confidence in me and it kills that not even my best of friends think I can make it in this world."

A teen stepping into adulthood is a critical time that could determine whether a child will become violent, Elliott said.

Parents need to be alert to signs of problems, said Mike Acree, who investigated the 1983 murders of Rod and Marilyn Carlson in Douglas County. Their son, Ross Carlson, 16, was arrested in the case, but died of leukemia before he went to trial.

"I think any parent who has a child acting in a violent manner, or even verbalizing this, should take steps. He (Ross Carlson) was very inquisitive about how much life insurance the parents had," Acree said.

Not everything Tess wrote about screamed of the allegations that were to come. She also blogged about hope, saying she wanted to find a boyfriend and, one day, attend college.

"So this is about half of my life," she said. "There's still so much going on, but I'm just gonna leave it at this: I'm going to get through this life, regardless of who's behind me or not."

Dead at their children's hands

Cases in Colorado where young people have been accused, then convicted, of killing a parent

• Nathan Ybanez

Ybanez is serving a life sentence without parole for the first-degree murder of his mother in 1998. Ybanez was 16 at the time of the death of Julie Ybanez in Highlands Ranch. He has since alleged that his mother abused him, a charge his father denies.

• Jacob Ind

Ind was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1992 deaths of his mother and stepfather, Pamela and Kermode Jordan, in Woodland Park. He was then 15. His brother has substantiated allegations of parental abuse.

• Michael Fitzgerald and Michael Tate

Fitzgerald pleaded guilty to second- degree murder in the death of his father, Steven Fitzgerald, in 2004. He was sentenced to 62 years in prison. Fitzgerald was 16 when he broke into his Westminster home and helped his friend, Michael Tate, kill his father. Tate pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He is being housed at the state mental hospital.

• Ross Carlson

Carlson was arrested for the 1983 murders of his parents, Rod and Marilyn Carlson, in Douglas County. Attorneys for the 19-year-old said he had 10 different personalities. Carlson died of leukemia before he was tried in court.

• James Bresnahan

Bresnahan was 15 when he stabbed his parents to death during a family camping trip to Silverthorne in 1965. Bresnahan was pardoned by Gov. Roy Romer several decades later. Bresnahan completed medical school and gained licenses in California and Colorado.

Correspondent Marilyn Robinson contributed to this report. doligosaf@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2970

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