Due to a few witnesses claiming to have seen a man in the vicinity of Stephanie's house the day of the attack, a degree of doubt was cast upon Janelle’s guilt until Stephanie later came out of her coma and named her as her attacker but not until Janelle went on the run.
Long before this and after a few months of not seeing anyone in Steven's family, Janelle accompanied him to his mother and sister’s house one hot summer day. They were told to bring bathing suits with them because the others were planning on making good use of the pool and having a backyard barbecue.
Janelle was dismayed but not surprised to see that Ramona had joined Spencer and Deanna, although her mother-in-law was napping at the time, not that she usually participated in any of the insults. At least not directly to Janelle.
The other three were already in the pool when they arrived so they went into the bathroom to get changed into their suits.
They got into the pool and Steven went to stand at one side next to Ramona with Deanna and her husband on the opposite side.
Janelle preferred to stay away from Ramona because she knew that the more contact they had, the more Ramona would say things that Janelle found to be mean whether they had a grain of truth to them or not.
At first, other than a disapproving look from Ramona at her brightly colored frilly bathing suit which didn’t exactly flatter her large disproportionate figure, she didn't say much to her during the first part of the visit. Janelle swam around by herself at the deep end of the pool while the others chatted.
There were a few snide remarks made by Ramona which Janelle overheard but ignored. It wasn't until she stepped out of the pool to grab a drink of water that the sarcasm and digs began.
Ramona complimented Deanna on aging well and having great skin for her age. “You have a beautiful wife,” she told Spencer.
“Yes, I do,” he agreed, lovingly throwing an arm around his wife’s narrow shoulders.
Just then, Janelle was re-entering the pool when Ramona said - in a way that wasn't meant to be kind or truthful - “Oh, Steven, you too have a beautiful wife.”
Steven said nothing.
Janelle looked at him as if she expected him to react the way Spencer had by agreeing to the comment and showing some affection, but his silence told her how he really felt. She felt hurt, as she would later go home and write in her journal.
Wordlessly, she returned to the deep end of the pool to feel sorry for herself in solitude while the others chatted a little longer.
“Aw,” she heard Ramona say with a slight chuckle a few seconds later, not surprised that her husband didn't say a damn thing in her defense and resenting him even more for it.
Steven, Deanna, and Spencer were the first to leave the pool. When Ramona realized she was now alone with not just someone she didn't like but also who was potentially dangerous, she began to feel a little uncomfortable and headed for the steps of the pool.
Before Deanna was completely out of view and inside the house, Janelle said something about wanting to get a swimsuit similar to hers.
“You're too fat for a bikini,” Ramona said.
Janelle's eyes went from brown to black and she shoved Ramona hard enough to knock her off her feet and under water, getting the hair wet that she didn't want to get wet in the first place.
“Oh my God, I'm sick of your rudeness!” Janelle snapped. “You couldn't just say you didn't think it would look good on me if you couldn’t keep your mouth shut altogether? You had to degrade me by calling me fat? Yes, I'm big. But you don't have to call me mean names!”
Janelle stormed out of the pool as Ramona coughed up the water she accidentally swallowed and struggled to catch her breath. As Ramona then struggled to kick her glasses up to the water’s surface with her foot that had been knocked off, Janelle snatched a towel off one of the chaise lounges she said, “Don't you dare say another word to me or to my husband for the rest of the time we're here!”
Ramona was too scared not to comply, even with two grown men in the house. However, there was something Janelle didn't know and that's that Spencer had installed a motion sensor camera that recorded anything that moved in the backyard and she knew the incident would be on tape to show later.
Ramona and Deanna went straight to the police with the recording after Steven and Janelle left but the police said there wasn't anything they could do. Instead, they advised Ramona to choose kinder words or not say anything at all. She was 62, after all, should know better and therefore set a better example.
“Oh, so it's my fault?” she asked the police officer she spoke to.
“No, not at all. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that sometimes when we don't have anything nice to say, it's better not to say anything at all.”
“Oh,” Ramona said sarcastically as if she truly didn't believe calling someone fat was rude, and for the most part, it wasn’t considered to be in those days.
“It’s like the difference between saying someone isn’t too bright versus calling them a retard."
Deanna snorted.
“Furthermore, she pushed you while in a pool. People push people in swimming pools all the time. If she held your head underwater or she pushed you onto the ground, then we may have a case."
Ramona and Deanna left the police department frustrated and with instructions to return if anything else occurred.
“Yeah, we'll wait until she puts another one of us in a coma like she did my niece,” Ramona said on the way out.
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