I sometimes think back to the Levine family. I'll be working on a case, and suddenly, I'll be reminded of the Levine case. Poor kid, y'know? Only ten years old. Sometimes, when I play with my 3-year-old daughter, I wonder, Did the Levine family do things like this? Or were they fighting the whole time?

Sometimes, when I helped my 9-year-old son practice a basketball shot, I'll wonder about what went through that poor kid's mind, being exposed to all the fighting. Other times, I'll think about what the parents went through. How they coped, knowing that unintentionally, their anger and growing violence… that it killed their only daughter.

But then I have to shrug it off and continue with my life. They're not my family, so they can't be my problem. Not in that way, anyway. That's my logic. But even as I say that, I can't help but go back to thinking about the look of complete shock and helplessness on the mother's face, wailing, with her own daughter's blood on her hands, the way she held out her hands, pleading with someone, anyone, for her precious daughter's life, that she'd be all right.

I was the one to tell her that her daughter was dead. I still have dreams about the woman's face, the look of absolute pain and loss.

But then I witnessed something that changed my life forever, as a parent, and as a detective. I was called in to look over the security camera footage in the Levine house. According to the husband, he wasn't there as often as he wanted to be, so he installed a security system so he could feel better about not being there to protect his daughter. The irony of it all… It's pretty sad.

Anyways, everyone was seated in the room. Even the kid's parents were there to watch the evidence. The mother refused to look up. As I examined her face, I noted it was pale, sunken in. The case had been ongoing for 3½ years. The other investigators hadn't thought to mention the evidence until recently, and I was suspicious. What were they trying to hide? It wasn't that bad, was it?

That's where I was most definitely was."What we're about to present to you… " said the female investigator, Catherine (I think this was her name). "Believe me, as a parent, I had half the mind to bury this all in a box and burn it. This is not for the light of heart." Then she turned to another investigator, Paul Robins. "Whenever you're ready, Paul."

"Starting in 3… 2… 1…" The lights dimmed and the footage began.

A small digital date appeared at the bottom, right of the screen: December 3rd, 2003 - 6:47pm:

"You were supposed to pick her up! Why are you sitting here, arguing with me, when our DAUGHTER is out there, probably freezing!"

The parents continued arguing for some time before the camera on the front door detected movement and a second image appeared on the screen and revealed that the daughter had arrived home.

Catherine spoke again: "The school that the girl, Koyner, went to was 6 miles away from her house."

I caught myself staring, open-mouthed, in shock. I looked around at the others in the room. Most of them held the same expression I had.

"Koi," a woman's voice suddenly said.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Catherine asked, turning to look at the source of the interruption. It was the mother of the girl.

"She… she preferred to be called Koi…" The mother's voice cracked and she went back to staring at the floor, her hands covering her face.

I wasn't sure if it was in grief, or shame. Perhaps it was fast-forwarded the security footage to the last clip if evidence, to the day that Koyner (or Koi), died:

- September 9th, 2008 – 4:37pm-

It was evening and the mother was cooking dinner, a stew, from the looks of it. She was chopping carrots when the father came it and said something. There was no audio from the kitchen camera, but whatever he had said sparked up an argument, which was no surprise. The father had grease on his shirt and was holding a wrench.

The tenseness of the argument slowly began to build up, both adults clenching the tool in their hands. There was no sound but I could tell they were almost screaming at each other by this time. It was at this point that a second image appeared again and Koyner "Koi" Sigguròs Levine entered the house, all happy, grinning widely. But her smile quickly faded in panic when she heard her parents and began dashing towards the kitchen.

By this point, both adults were moments away from striking each other with what were now weapons in their hands.

The mother with the knife.

The father with the wrench.

But nobody in the viewing room was looking at the adults. No, they were watching the girl. Koi had dropped her backpack before slipping between the two adults.

I wouldn't have believed what happened next if I wasn't watching it in the presence of others.

The weapons came down on her like hellfire. The knife stabbed into her neck and the wrench slammed against her ribs. Koi looked up at her shell-shocked parents and said something, before turning to the camera with blood spilling from her throat.

And the ten year old… she had this look of determination.

A kind of smile. She had this smile as her body went lifeless, the light in her eyes fading.

She smiled, just before death.

There were people crying in the viewing room. I myself, tried to hold back my tears.