Virginia Tech: One Mother's Grief

By: Thalia Assuras
Topics: Field Notes

(CBS)

Thalia Assuras is a national correspondent for CBS News, based in Washington.

It's been only four months since the massacre at Virginia Tech, such a short time and yet such a "long winter" for Holly Sherman. She lost her 20-year-old daughter Leslie, a history major to the troubled mind of a violent young man, Seung-Hui Cho. Leslie is now part of the university's history, a history marred by the conclusions of a state panel.

Echoing the report, Holly Sherman believes that lives, including that of her daughter, could have been saved had there been a warning about the first two murders.

In fact, she personally holds the university responsible for a failure to act, the decision not to act and she is especially harsh on the knowledge so many had about Cho's mental state, calling the officials negligent.

Video:
Mom Reacts To Va. Tech Report

This is a mother whose pain, for the most part, is still contained -- admittedly so, as she has sought answers to her questions so many families had about how this tragedy could have happened. She told me she has many answers, doesn't believe anything has been whitewashed, but can't understand how this could have happened.

It is when she talks about leslie - "always cheerful...never a disappointment" that Holly Sherman dissolves in tears and pain. and she has another worry now - another daughter, Lisa who started at Virginia Tech just this year. The two sisters were to room together.

(To see Thalia Assuras's report from the CBS Evening News, just click the image on the left -- Ed.)