Lauren Stewart had suffered trauma and mental health issues for many years.

She spent most of those years finding ways to cope.

Eventually, though, after losing one of her biggest sources of support,

Lauren could no longer handle her depression.

She wanted to leave the world, but she didn't want to leave her family behind.

This is Monsters. Thank you. Dan and Lauren Stewart had worked hard to be able to put their children through college.

Their children, Stephen and Bethany,

were on track to have successful college careers. Stephen was going to study computer science,

and Bethany had already received a scholarship to art school. Unfortunately, the family happened to be members of their local group of Jehovah Witnesses

in Kigo Harbor, Michigan.

It's unclear how long they had been members, but one source says that they were raised

within the group.

Despite that, they didn't seem to know that the Jehovah's Witnesses frowned upon higher

education.

When a church leader heard that the kids were both planning to go to

college, he called a meeting with the family to carry out what the organization calls

education. Ironic. The leader told them that college was unnecessary and that it would only

expose them to pernicious levels of immorality. Which is true.

College is a place where many young people experience things for the first time, but you have to

develop some level of self-control. When I was younger, I had a problem with alcohol, but I've

never been a drug user. I've been around people who had drugs, and even

as a careless, impressionable young adult, I still turned it down when it was offered.

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