I can honestly say I have never personally known anyone on trial for murder.

Until yesterday.

Bill Smithson went on trial Monday in the strangulation death of a young intern from South Dakota. Jason Shephard’s body was found wrapped in sheets in the basement of Bill’s home in Thornbury Township.

Bill used to work for this newspaper. He was an ad representative. I considered him a friend. We didn’t socialize together. We didn’t hang out together. But he was one of those people that you would see every day.

It was hard to miss Bill. He was an outgoing guy with a quick smile who always seemed like the most upbeat guy in the room.

Bill left the newspaper to pursue other interests and I lost track of him.

Right up until they found the body of Jason Shephard in his basement.

The lurid details will play out this week in a Media courtroom. It is not a pretty picture.

Jason Shephard’s parents are in the courtroom, holding a picture of their son. I cannot imagine their grief, their loss, and the emptiness they have felt for more than two years waiting for this week to come.

Also in that courtroom are supporter’s of Bill Smithson.

I’ll leave the details of what is alleged to have happened inside that house to other parts of the newspaper.

Suffice it to say it is not pretty. It has left lives in tatters.

And it makes you wonder about things you take for granted every day.