Bloody Lies by John Ferak

Author:John Ferak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kent State University Press

On November 30, 1977, Matthew David Livers was born at a small-community hospital in Syracuse, Nebraska, a town of one thousand with a strong German heritage and a short drive from Lincoln. Matt’s early years brought many challenges, including delayed motor and speech skills. “Matt will amount to a zero nothing,” a school psychologist informed his mother.1 Matt attended normal kindergarten in the Elmwood-Murdock school system. He also went for additional therapy at an Educational Service Unit program called Project Me, about twenty miles away in Springfield, Nebraska. The program aimed to mainstream Matt and other children with academic difficulties into a regular first grade classroom. In grade and middle school, Matt had a short attention span. Back then, people didn’t understand his learning disabilities. Kids teased and bullied him. Some took his lunch money. On multiple occasions, Matt returned home from school in tears. He had very few school friends. School officials, for their part, felt Matt exhibited really bizarre behavior growing up in Murdock. By 1992, Matt’s family relocated to Abilene, Texas, thanks to a job opportunity for his father. Moving to Texas offered Matt a fresh start, too. The special education program at Matt’s new high school included many other students like him, including Ryan Paulding, who ultimately became his best friend. But Matt did not altogether escape teasing and bullying in Abilene. On occasion, he sneaked out of school before the bell rang to avoid other teenagers eager to pick on him. All of Matt’s classes were concentrated in the special education program. Consequently, his few friends at Wylie High School were also slow and learning disabled. Yet other aspects of his teenage years were normal. Matt obtained his driver’s license. He held a part-time job at a local Taco Bell restaurant to pay for his car. In May 1996, Matt beamed as he wore his cap and gown and walked across the stage to receive his diploma, just like hundreds of classmates. Since college wasn’t practical, Matt took a job at the local Abilene Airport with a private security company. He enjoyed security work. He thought of himself as being like a real police officer, minus the firearm. Soon Matt moved back to Nebraska with his parents and took a job at the large Kawasaki assembly plant in Lincoln. By 2000, Matt followed his parents back to Texas, this time relocating to Victoria, a city of sixty thousand, about thirty miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. In Victoria, Matt worked a slew of jobs: laborer, security guard, and lot porter for a car dealership. In December 2001, he met Sarah Schneider. She was already pregnant and in the midst of a divorce, but she and Matt hit it off. By 2003, Matt and Sarah decided to move to Lincoln, Nebraska, after Matt’s parents again pursued career opportunities in Nebraska. Not far from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus, Matt and his steady girlfriend rented a modestly priced, forest-green, two-story house in an urban neighborhood. The couple’s relationship was strong and fulfilling.

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