Given that both the suspects and their victim were in their teens, it is difficult to disregard their parents, if only because some supporters pointed fingers at the suspects’ parents. That means we should look at everyone. We’ll start from the top.
The Grunwalds
By the time David Grunwald was born, his mother was in her late 30’s and his father was in his early 40’s. Both in the military — he in the Air Force, she in the Air National Guard — Edie and Ben were already parents to two adopted children. While their own careers were important — Edie started with the rank of Airman and retired as a Colonel after 30 plus years — David was always a special someone. As parents, his family — Edie especially — made a point of taking him on a range of field trips, “so he could be different and be a leader.”
But things weren’t entirely rosy in the Grunwald household. By mid-2014, the Alaska Air National Guard was engaged in a full-blown scandal. And Col. Edith Grunwald was smack in the middle: Grunwald was director of human resources for the Guard, and a “senior advisor on manpower/personnel matters.” The Guard was having personnel problems galore. MORE>>>
Col. Edith Grunwald, Alaska Air National Guard