‘A bigger fight has begun’: Family friend says she wants clearer answers in case of injured Deshler student

TUSCUMBIA, Ala. (WHNT)– The Tuscumbia community is demanding clearer answers after the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office deemed the August Borden case closed.

Mary Margaret Holmes, a close family friend of August Borden, told News 19 she doesn’t buy the DA’s office’s findings and that this case isn’t over.

“They may have said this case is closed, but a bigger fight has begun and we will not stop,” Holmes said.

Holmes says further investigation needs to be done into this case because she believes there are several inconsistencies.

“In all transparency and honesty, I think this is far from over,” Holmes said. “It’s not over, there were too many inconsistencies with what we were told today, based on what the family knows to be true.”

Holmes says she has two boys on the Deshler High School football team and one of her sons is close friends with August. Holmes said that on the day Borden was seriously injured on the stairs at Deshler High, his family wanted nothing more than the truth about what happened to him.

Holmes also says that as she watched the Madison County prosecutor take stock Wednesday, it immediately raised red flags for her and she felt like there was more to look into.

Holmes said August and his family had an army of supporters and she believed clearer answers were needed.

“I think I can speak for the family and the amount of effort that has been put into it, they really want answers that make sense and personally I’m the type of person that if it doesn’t make sense to me I investigate further and in doing so I think they had a good place to walk away and believe what they believe and she was really sad and like me, everyone else I think the community as a whole wanted better things that lean on,” Holmes said.

Holmes also mentioned that something that struck him as odd was the fact that investigators only spoke to 17 people when there were 71 on the football team.

“There are 71 kids on this team, and they didn’t interview all of them, so there wasn’t a consistent schedule, so there’s a lot of other things that should have been looked at,” Holmes said.

As for Borden’s recovery, his mother, Kristin Van Devender, told News 19 that he is doing much better and is currently doing all of his school work at home.

Source link