Chapter 4
The daughter of a wealthy Albany, New York family, Sharon Chapin married Tom after earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. One year later she gave birth to a daughter, Antoinette (Toni). Toni was the light of Sharon’s life, and her death initially put some of Sharon’s cultivated Vipassana Meditation out of focus. It takes years to attain the level of awareness that Vipassana can bring. Sharon had practiced it for several years but was not close yet to experience the understanding of what the true nature of life is. The anger brought on by Toni’s death, which Vipassana would ultimately allow her to understand and accept, derailed her now. She needed to bring Toni’s killer to justice to get her life back on track. The part-time job she had selling real estate, her busy schedule of community involvement, and her conversations with her husband were not easing her loss.
The look on Stanley Lewis’ face at Toni’s funeral told Sharon how important Toni was to him. She wanted to find out about this handsome young man and see if he would help her find the killer; the police hadn’t. Maybe both of them would have less enmity towards the world if the killer of her daughter was brought to justice.
She made some inquiries, got information on Lewis and paid him an unannounced visit at his parent’s house. He answered the doorbell; in his grief he had not noticed her at Toni’s funeral. He recognized the resemblance and invited Sharon Chapin in.
Lewis’ parents missed an emotional conversation. Their son and Sharon Chapin lost part of their souls the day Toni died. Both were struggling to move forward.
Sharon insisted on calling Lewis ‘Stanley’ and having him call her Sharon. She learned that Stanley had the same need as she: to bring Toni’s killer to justice. They were going to give the police time to find the killer, but both pledged to take matters into their own hands if the killer wasn’t found.
Weeks turned into months, and months into nearly three years, and still no one was charged.
Then they took action. Since Stanley had little money to investigate who the driver could have been and Sharon had plenty, they would both research. Stanley would do the legwork and meet with people. Sharon would provide the money and all other resources.
From the day of the accident, Sharon’s husband wanted to kill the car driver; she planned on telling him who that was after she and Stanley identified him and he was safely in custody. Killing the killer accomplishes nothing except to diminish one’s soul, according to her beliefs. She didn’t want the risk of her husband harming his.