How do we tell someone who has never lost a child the impact of that is? Do we talk about the endless tears, the sleepless nights or do we tell you about the emptiness that her smile use to fill? How do we make you understand the loss of our child? Every parent can imagine what it would be like to lose a child. A constant ache in the pit of our stomach, the loss of hope, the helplessness, the feeling that we have no control , the guilt that we should have done something different, the anger towards the injustice of it all. We don’t have to imagine, we have to live it! Every day, for the rest of our lives!

Our children are our life, our joy, our happiness. We are a very close family that did everything together. Family game night with their friends, weekend trips, movies, playing tennis and basketball, shopping, amusement parks, How many teens do you know that actually make time for their families. She had a lot of friends and was very active but still made time for her family. She would take her little brother with her when she went out with her friends or sometimes when she went to the movies with her dates. She was active in his life also. She took him to basketball practice and to the store and to his friends house. She knew she was loved and we knew she loved us.

Teal was a 17 year old girl with many dreams and many goals. She was looking forward to graduation from high school, celebrating her 18th birthday and attending college in the fall. She wanted to be a paralegal. Her grades were good enough to warrant the millennium scholarship. She played on the tennis team for Basic High and lettered her last two years. She played 3rd base for her co-ed softball team. Teal had it all: smart, beautiful, a great personality, great sense of humor and a family that loved her so much! How do I make you know her in such a short amount of time. You would have liked her. Everyone did.

Tim, we would like you to know that soon after Teal’s death we had sympathy for you. We thought about how tough it would be for you knowing that you were responsible for the death of our daughter. That you would have to live with that pain for the rest of your life. It became clear that we were wrong. Your actions of the last few months have shown that you have no remorse for what you have done. Do you remember when you told Cassie that you no longer "blame" yourself? How about the time when you brought a case of beer to a birthday party? Michelle and Melissa called us every time they seen you do those things. We couldn’t tell you how many times Teal’s friends called us or came over crying. They had to see you at school everyday and see how you acted like you did nothing wrong. Do you realize how insensitive you were to her friends when you did those things. How about the t-shirt that listed 10 ways to get away with speeding. Do you think it was easy for the dean, Stacey Koenen to ask you not to wear it again. She loved Teal too. Do you remember what you said when Channel 3 did a story about seat belt safety? You said that you wished you could of done something different that night, like take a different road. We wished you would of done something different too. We wish that you didn’t drive under the influence of illegal drugs and alcohol! Teal would be with us today if not for your crimes. You made adult choices but here we sit in a juvenile facility. Tim, who else is there to "blame"?

A lot of Basic High School teenagers, teachers and deans are waiting to hear the outcome of today’s sentencing. We are asking you to make an "impact" on those teens who are waiting by letting them know that if you choose to do drugs or drink and get behind the wheel of a car that there will be serious consequences for your actions. We hope that those of you that are deciding this case never lose a child the way we have but we do want you to issue the punishment that you would want for the murderer of your child. The Plea Hearing judge said that if the crimes Tim Mumaw were charged with could be substantiated he would be looking at considerable time in a correctional facility. We have lost faith in a lot of things. The faith in our own judgments, faith in the god that was to look after our family. So please don’t let us lose faith in this justice system. Please give us justice. Help us to at least close this door so we can start to repair our family.