Remembering Molly: Friends and family honor murdered teen on shooting anniversary

LAKE STEVENS -- 16 year old Molly Conley should be making plans for the summer. Instead, her friends and family held a tribute to her along the same stretch of road where she was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Lake Stevens just over a year ago. Erin O’Rourk talked about her cousin as she helped assemble a roadside memorial to Molly. “Our spirit’s what`s permanent and there`s like a piece of Molly in all of us, so all of these crosses represents each person in Molly`s life that loved Molly.” Friends, family, and schoolmates are represented in more than a thousand white crosses now in the ground along the narrow shoulder of road where Molly was killed. Each with the words “true”, “kind”, or “brave.” The crosses snaked all the way to her gravesite at Holy Rood Cemetery in Shoreline. Molly's father, John, says they describe the girl taken too soon. “When we talk about Molly over the last year, there are certain adjectives and descriptions of her that came up over and over, and that`s Molly and that`s what Molly brings out of us and that`s what`s shining from these crosses.” They certainly piqued the interest of drivers like Tasha Henning. We were kind of discussing what it could be, what it might be, and I said ‘Well, I want to ask them.’ I just want to take a picture of something good happening out of something so bad.” The crosses are a reminder of what was taken away, but also a celebration of the person Molly's friends, like her cousin, knew. “Some days I almost forget it happened, and other days it`s really, really hard, and I think about her a lot so coming here makes it really real.” This week, the crosses were removed and given to her classmates. Molly's father left them with these words, “When you see one of the cross displays, it is my hope you will recall that these crosses represent you. The displays represent all of you standing tall, beautiful and proud saying, 'We are the permanent memorial to Molly Conley."