Lindsay C. Cutshall
[09/09/81 - 08/15/04]

Lindsay & Jason
Jason S. Allen
[05/16/78 - 08/15/04]

♥ "The sun is going down on the horizon, and all I see is the beams shining on the cliff face, and I know that God is awesome. I look around and see His Creation all around me." --Lindsay ♥                                                                                 ♥ "As I stir this Mac & Cheese, I think to myself, what a wonderful life. I've just spent two awesome days with my fiance, Lindsay. Can life ever be so perfect? Only with a person who is so great. God gives me this privilege in life and He has given me a wonderful woman to enjoy it with." --Jason ♥                                                                                 ♥ "Live for things in heaven, not on earth." --Lindsay ♥                                                                                 ♥ "Heaven will be a wonderful place of no suffering, hurt, loneliness; it's a great thing to look forward to." --Lindsay ♥

Monday, March 28, 2005

Photo from a friend...

I recently received an e-mail with a picture of Jason attached from one of Jason's many friends from Appalachian Bible College. She knew Jason in his earlier years at ABC, prior to the time that he first met Lindsay. I love this picture so much! Jason's smile was very infectious. :) I remember that about him even from when we were kids. I am blessed to have known him. I feel even more blessed to know that this good-bye is not forever! What an awesome God we serve, Who allows us the chance to spend eternity with our loved ones who are fellow believers.


"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." [Revelation 21:4]


Jason in his early years at Appalachian Bible College.
Click on photo for larger view!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Seven months...

March 15 marked seven months since Jason and Lindsay died. I pray every day that the person who killed them will be apprehended and brought to justice before they hurt or kill anyone else. So far, that person has not been captured, but I have faith that he will be eventually. This article is really interesting. It includes some information that I had not known until I read it.


Read this latest article that comes from a local Santa Rosa, California newspaper:

No closure in Jenner slayings...

Seven months after a double killing shocked the coastal community, police have no suspects and those touched by the tragedy struggle to move on.

Monday, March 21, 2005


By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

There aren't any memorials on the remote Jenner beach where Jason Allen and his fiancee, Lindsay Cutshall, were slain in their sleeping bags last summer.

There is only gray sand, driftwood, assorted junk and, one day last week, a sea lion that popped its head from the chilly surf, eyeing intruders on its turf.

Evidence that may lead to the Ohio couple's killer has been either gathered by investigators or swept away by the tides.

It's been seven months, but authorities say they still have no suspects, no murder weapon and no motive for the killings of Allen, 26, and Cutshall, 22, despite an avalanche of tips and a few false confessions.

"A couple of them were the big guy at the bar," said Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Freitas, who is overseeing the investigation. "By the time we show up at that person's door, they go, 'Whoa, that was a mistake.'"

Cutshall's and Allen's bodies were discovered on what local residents refer to as Driftwood or Fish Head Beach on Aug. 18, five days after they left a white-water rafting camp in El Dorado County, where they'd worked for the summer as counselors.

Investigators believe the couple, who planned to return to Ohio and marry, were killed in their sleep Aug. 14. Each was shot once in the head at close range with a .45-caliber rifle as they lay side by side in separate sleeping bags.

Freitas said detectives have confiscated about 100 rifles, not all of them belonging to Sonoma County residents. Each weapon is sent to the state Department of Justice for ballistics testing, but so far a match hasn't been found.

Freitas said investigators are still awaiting test results on trace evidence sent to a state lab for possible DNA clues.

Investigators also have collected 900 tips and filled eight black binders - each one about 4 inches thick - with reports. The Sheriff's Department hired an intern to specifically help with the case.

"I have faith that at some point this case will be solved," Freitas said.

With each passing day, however, the trail grows colder.

Any record of the violence has long since vanished from the beach where the couple was killed. The same could be said of Jenner, where the focus last week was on the return of the tourist season.

Restaurants that have been closed for the winter are in the process of reopening. Lodging rates are rising, as are concerns for the safety of hundreds of harbor seals that annually haul out to give birth at the confluence of the Russian River and the Pacific Ocean.

On "Jenner News," an Internet chat room many in the community of 800 use to keep in touch, the focus lately has been on a woman whose daughter underwent surgery, and concerns about a timber harvest plan that failed to materialize.

Seven months ago, that same chat room was dominated by one topic: the slayings of Allen and Cutshall.

"It's not been a topic of conversation," said David Kenly, an at-home software engineer who monitors the chat room. "People get back to work, go back to their lives."

That isn't to say the killings have been forgotten in the tight-knit community.

"We say, 'God, it's such a mystery,'" said Gail Andersen, an innkeeper at the Jenner Inn. "You don't want to think there's a wacko out there blowing people away on the beach."

She said many residents still wonder how the couple discovered the remote beach, which is reached by a steep and unmarked trail. Camping is illegal there, but the spot has earned a reputation for illicit activity.

"They made a terrible decision to stay at that beach," said Joel Martin, who remembers Cutshall's buying something at his souvenir shop and Allen's Ford Tempo, which was held together partially by duct tape.

Authorities found the car on a Highway 1 turnout overlooking the beach where the couple's bodies were found.

A month after the grisly discoveries, members of the Jenner Community Center sent a letter to Allen's and Cutshall's parents, expressing condolences for their loss.

"What occurred is unfathomable," said the Sept. 26 letter, which hasn't been made public until now. "Our North Coast beach should have been an idyllic location - and turned into the opposite."

Chris Cutshall, Lindsay Cutshall's father and an Ohio pastor, answered the letter with one of his own a week later. In it he quoted the Book of Job - "For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward" - and thanked the Jenner community for its sympathy.

"We certainly hold no ill feeling toward you, but thank you for holding us in your hearts, and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ minister to your spirits," the letter said.

Reached at his church in Fresno, Ohio, last week, Cutshall praised sheriff's investigators for their dedication to the case and said he's hopeful the killer will be found.

He said he's considered the possibility that the couple were killed because of their religious beliefs. Among the possessions found at the crime scene were a Bible and Christian wedding literature.

"In the beginning, we thought it might be a persecution murder," Cutshall said. "They were bold about their faith. They didn't ram it down their (people's) throats. They were tactful. At the same time, it wouldn't take much for someone to realize these people were Christians and love the Lord."

At least two men who claimed to harbor ill will toward Christians have been checked out by investigators and cleared of any involvement in the case.

One was a Sonoma County parolee who, shortly before he was killed in October in an alleged robbery attempt gone awry, reportedly told a friend that he had killed Cutshall and Allen after making them renounce their faith.

That lead fizzled when detectives learned the man was in the Sonoma County Jail on a parole violation and en route to San Quentin State Prison the weekend of the slayings.

Authorities also interrogated a Wisconsin drifter who reportedly had been seen with the couple prior to their death and, according to his family, held animosity toward religious people.

Reached by phone recently, Nicholas Scarseth, 21, confirmed his dislike of Christians and gave conflicting statements about whether he had any involvement in the deaths.

"That Christianity stuff is interesting," Scarseth said. "You know, I thought about it. What if I got drunk and blacked out, but I would never do that. I was 97 percent sure I didn't."

Scarseth said detectives interviewed him for about 12 hours Aug. 24 and took samples of his hair and bodily fluids before letting him go.

Freitas said Scarseth never expressed any doubt about his innocence during that interrogation, and reiterated that he isn't considered a suspect.

"He didn't say anything like that to us," Freitas said. "He gave us a good alibi where he was, and he wasn't in Jenner at the time of the murders."

Freitas said the FBI is close to finishing a profile of the suspected killer and their findings will likely match detectives' own theories.

"Basically our track is to work the tips," Freitas said. "We're looking for the gun, big time, and waiting for the (possible DNA) evidence to come back."

Cutshall said he's convinced his daughter's death was the work of one man who "stalked" the couple. He's never been to the beach, but hopes to go this summer when he comes to California to lead a memorial service at the rafting camp.

"There isn't a day that goes by that we don't memorialize Jason and Lindsay's lives," he said. "I was looking forward to him being my son-in-law. They're incredibly special to us."

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Trusting in God's Sovereignty...

I just found the article below online today. Although much of this is general information that has been posted previously, I thought it was well worth including. I am continually humbled by God's grace in light of what has happened to Jason and Lindsay. To those who do not know Jesus as their personal Savior, I'm not sure this would make much sense. In fact, I'm sure it would not. My entire perspective on life has changed ever since God became a part of it. Quite honestly, I cannot imagine trying to live without God in my heart. He gives me so much hope and peace, without which I would not be able to cope. When I found out about the murders of Jason and Lindsay, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was completely in shock and deeply heartbroken over the senselessness of it and the pain that it was causing to such wonderful families. But very quickly, God revealed to me that even in horrific situations such as this, His Plan is at work. I do not pretend to know what God's Plan is... if I knew, I would be more than human... and I am not. But I believe with 100% certainty that God has a plan for all of those who believe in Him... and even if evil touches your life... it has a purpose. I have seen so much GOOD come from the tragedy that took Jason and Lindsay's lives. Not that I don't wish for them to still be here... but God has brought more people into His Kingdom through the tragedy. Evil did not triumph. It never will. God is GOOD and His Will is always better than ours.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Parents of slain couple still hope killer will surface.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005


By JESSI MARTIN, Staff writer
Mountain Democrat Online

Some belongings have been returned to the Cutshalls since their 22-year-old daughter Lindsay and her 26-year-old fiancé Jason Allen, river guides in El Dorado County, were found murdered on a beach in Sonoma County in August 2004.

Other possessions were taken into evidence and have not yet been released to the family in the case that Sonoma County sheriff's detectives continue to investigate.

"We're still working the case full time," said Steve Freitas, supervisor of the violent crimes unit for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. "We still have leads we are working; we are still analyzing evidence, but we have not identified a suspect at this time."

The couple, who planned to marry in September 2004, were working as outdoor youth ministry counselors at the Rock 'N Water Camp in Coloma when they went on a weekend trip and failed to return. They were later found shot in their sleeping bags on a lonely stretch of beach near Jenner. Their bodies were found Aug. 18, but authorities said they probably were killed between Aug. 14 and 16.

Now Lindsay's father, Chris Cutshall, a pastor at the Fresno Bible Church in Fresno, Ohio, has been taking the time to sit down with one of the items that has been returned to him and his wife, Lindsay's Bible.

As he began to thumb through it, Cutshall said, he found that the book of Phillipians had the most underlines, highlights, circles and notes in his daughter's handwriting, but one note in particular struck home for him.

Next to Phillipians 3:20, which states that "our citizenship is in heaven," Lindsay, 22 when she was slain, had written, "I'm just a pilgrim," Cutshall said.

For her father it has brought both consolation and inspiration in the wake of the six-month anniversary of his daughter's death.

"There's a deep sense of loss, of longing and desire to see her and be with her," Cutshall said. "We cry a lot, and we still grieve a lot."

But, in his Sunday preaching, Cutshall has begun a series of sermons from the book of Phillipians as a tribute to his daughter, her fiancé, and their desire to make a difference in people's lives.

"God is still using their lives and deaths to influence people," Cutshall said. "It certainly has impacted our church family. When we lost a daughter, they lost a sister."

The counselors at Rock 'N Water, 23 of whom traveled to Ohio for the couple's memorial, have also felt the loss of Cutshall and Allen, and are also continuing to honor the memory of the couple.

Plans to dedicate and unveil a memorial to Cutshall and Allen at a central location at Rock 'N Water sometime in mid-June are being discussed, and a non-profit memorial fund called "Kids in Creation" has been set up in their memory, a camp director who asked to remain anonymous, said.

"Both in their life and in their death they have inspired many of us to be more dedicated in our commitment to the outdoor youth ministries," the camp director said. "The last thing we want to do is forget about what happened last fall."

At Rock 'N Water, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen were known for their dedication.

Cutshall was known for the selflessness with which she prayed for others, while Allen was known for the attitude of "go big or go home," a philosophy Allen applied to his rafting as much as his spiritual life, the camp director said.

"They were very clear about their mission," he said.

Though the murder of the couple is seemingly without motive, both family and friends of the couple continue to keep their faith.

"We trust in God's sovereignty," Chris Cutshall said. "There are reasons for this, even if we don't understand them."

And, despite the fact that the person responsible for their daughter's death still has not been brought to justice, Cutshall praised the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department for its dedication and persistence in working on the murder case.

"We only ask these guys do their best, the rest we leave to God," Cutshall said.

NOTE: To view all posts, please go to Archives (in right column).