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Wilbraham Mourns Death Of Amy Lord

WILBRAHAM (CBS) - White ribbons line the streets of Amy Lord's Wilbraham neighborhood from light post to doorstep. And at Kathy Whitney's home as a visible sign for the family. "We're just trying to let them know we love them and support them and that we're here," she tells WBZ-TV.

A fundraiser at a local restaurant to raise money for the Lord family brought out former classmates from Minnechaug Regional High School where Lord was a 2007 graduate. They remember the young woman who followed her dream.

"She did exactly what she wanted. I think she went straight to the city like the majority of our class did," said Marissa Hyfzczack.

She didn't fear the kind of violence she met Tuesday morning when the 24-year-old was kidnapped, beaten and killed in broad daylight. It's now close to home in her western Massachusetts community. "You expect when your children go off to start a new life these things are not going to happen," said neighbor Carrie Keating.

Amy Lord
(Photo credit: Boston Police)

Her friends say they're haunted by a surveillance image of Lord emerging from a vehicle in what would be the final hour of her life. Her face, they say, should not be blurred in the photo as it has been by investigators.

"The killer, or whoever it was, needs to live with that, they need to see her image everywhere," said Hyfzczack.

To her friends she was the popular classmate, full of life and energy. Now the details emerging of her killing are incomprehensible.

"That somebody would go to that length to do what they did doesn't make sense and will never make sense," said former classmate Kelly Forrest.

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