The last day of July in 2007 begins with a shrill ring of the phone. Again, and again. Eleven-year-old Stephanie Clemens finally awakes after multiple phone calls from her mother, Diane Clemens, who had been walking the dogs around the neighborhood.

Diane tells Stephanie she had seen two cop cars racing down their street at 50 miles per hour, and more were coming. Diane thought it had been their own house that was on fire, that a curling iron or a toaster had been left on. They never would’ve guessed what they were about to find next.

Stephanie went outside to find cop cars surrounding her best friend, Micayla Robert’s house. She sat down on the cold driveway, wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them tightly as she watched the scene unfold from a distance.

Strange men with briefcases and gloves file into the house while policemen drape yellow crime scene tape around the trees.

“I was just really confused why they would be there and didn’t see any of her family members coming out of the house,” Stephanie said. “I thought maybe it was some health issue or something.”

They soon found out it was worse. Micayla, her 7-year-old brother Dylan Roberts, their father Michael Roberts and their mother Andrea Roberts were all gone. Andrea had shot the children and her husband before killing herself.

“All I heard was: ‘They’re dead, Micayla is dead,’” Stephanie said.

***
Just one year earlier, fourth graders Stephanie and Micayla race down the stairs of Micayla’s grandmother’s home on a summer morning, clad in pink pajamas and slippers. Micayla’s brother Dylan followed closely, trying to keep up with them. Their hair strayed in every direction as they jumped out of bed, eager for the savory sausage that only her grandmother could make. The breakfast was one they always looked forward to, their mouths watering as they watched her cook it in front of them.

After breakfast, they scatter teddy bears across the room and jump from the couch onto pillows, envisioning the white carpet beneath them as boiling lava. One wrong move and they could risk not saving all their fluffy friends from the fiery liquid river. On three, they all jump together to save their final companion from his made-up doom.
After their mission was accomplished, they spent the day playing basketball and jumping rope. They were exhausted by the evening, cuddling up to some ice cream sandwiches alongside the stuffed animals they loved so much.

“She had a crazy amount of toys, everything we would’ve wanted when we were that age,” Stephanie said.

***
Stephanie, now a senior, and Micayla were instantly friends when they met in kindergarten. As some of the only girls on their street, they bonded quickly and remained close throughout elementary school. Stephanie went to Micayla’s house to play on the swings and Micayla came to her house to jump on the trampoline. They raced down the street on scooters, seeking any adventure they could find outdoors.

She soon came to know Micayla’s younger brother, the 7-year-old “spitfire” as Diane calls him. He was full of energy, constantly using the Clemens’s driveway as a ramp to ride his bike down into the street. Dylan was sweet, always wanting to be included in the activities the older girls did. Whether it was playing dress-up or riding in a toy car up and down the sidewalk, he was always there to play alongside them. Constantly surrounded by boys, Stephanie said that time with Micayla was the girl time she had always wanted.

“We both had brothers, so we were like each other’s sister,” Stephanie said.

Stephanie thought Micayla’s mother Andrea was thoughtful and friendly – she often baked for the girls, especially her famous extra creamy macaroni and cheese. When Stephanie came home after having it for the first time, she begged her mother to make it just like Andrea did. Micayla and her mom seemed to have a close bond and loved to get their nails painted together.

Her father Michael was quiet, but always nice. Micayla was a daddy’s girl, and they often bonded over soccer when Michael practiced with her in the front yard.

“They seemed to love each other a lot and they always did activities together,” Stephanie said. “They seemed normal.”

Stephanie’s shock over Micayla’s death was partly because the Roberts seemed ordinary. The motives and mindset of Andrea are still unclear, which is one of the hardest concepts for her to grasp. The suicide note Andrea left behind said she was taking the lives of her family, but it did not explain why. According to the Southeast Texas Record, Andrea’s parents and siblings filed a lawsuit against the depression drug Zoloft, claiming the medication was a predominant factor in the incident. Andrea had picked up the prescription one week before killing herself and her family.

***
When Stephanie wants to remember Micayla, she thinks about a warm summer day in the backyard. She can see the beam of sunlight peeking through the gate in the garden of homegrown fruits and vegetables. It was a bright, beautiful day as Stephanie and Micayla sat within the greenery, perfectly at peace. Even at 9 years old, they could absorb themselves in conversation for hours. They played on the swing set that had become their getaway, the spot just for them.

Other cherished memories are filled with trips to the Dallas World Aquarium and the Fort Worth Museum of Natural History, sleepovers at Micayla’s grandmother’s house, summer days spent at the community pool, Barbies and Bratz. None of it was forgotten.

Stephanie’s relationship with her best friend was simple. Micayla was shy at first, but loving. Loyal. Stephanie always thought her smile was pretty, one of genuine warmth and affection. The friendliest person she’s ever met.

“She was kind to everyone,” Stephanie said. “She was very sweet and compassionate towards others, even if she didn’t know the person. She always included everybody. She always made you feel really good about yourself.”

***
Next-door to the Roberts family lived Tim and Mary Warren. They had known the Roberts for seven years before the incident. They considered themselves an aunt and uncle to Dylan and Micayla since they had no children of their own. On the summer day that the family died, Tim went into the house with his spare key and found Andrea and Michael in the bedroom, while the children were locked in their rooms. In complete shock, he called the police while Micayla’s grandmother held the frantic, barking dogs outside.

“The scary part to me is that she acted totally normal and then she did that, so it was way out of left field,” Tim said.
Micayla and Dylan adored the Warrens. On one occasion, the kids even camped out on their driveway on beach chairs waiting for them to get home.

“They were very well-behaved, very polite, very nice kids,” Tim said. “The upbringing they had was very good. That’s what blows you away.”

After the Roberts passed away, the Warrens took in Micayla’s 50-pound husky mix named Takaani and Dylan’s black 100-pound dog named Koda. They already had a bond with the dogs after attending a party Micayla threw for the dog’s first birthday, the first and only birthday party for a dog they’ve ever been to. The dogs serve as a special reminder of the children next door that they loved so much.

“Micayla was a very sweet, sweet girl, and unfortunately we didn’t get to see her grow up,” Mary said. “We didn’t get to see her go to prom or anything like that. I would’ve liked that.”

***
Stephanie’s mother Diane tried to help her understand that day. She sat her down on the couch to tell her Micayla was in heaven, that she would always be with her in spirit. As a fifth grader, it was beyond her grasp. Stephanie cried on the couch, stayed in her room and kept to herself. She knew Micayla was gone, but she couldn’t comprehend the death of her best friend, let alone the fact she was murdered.

After Micayla passed, the moms of some neighborhood girls bought each of her friends a sterling silver angel drop for them to remember her by. They also collected some of her shirts and sewed them into a pillowcase for each of them to have.

“That was such a neat idea for little girls to have a memory of Micayla like that,” Diane said.
Despite all the negative memories of the incident, she said she learned to be more forthcoming with the things she appreciates to let people know that she supports them.

“I look back and I wish I had told Andrea ‘we love Micayla, she’s so sweet,’” Diane said.

With little solace available after time without Micayla, Stephanie took up writing when she needed an outlet for her emotions. In the year after she passed, Stephanie wrote when she was angry, sad, confused, anything. She often laid on her stomach, sprawled out on her bed with her journal in front of her. She scribbled quickly, writing down memories before they slipped away from her. She tried to keep her life as normal as possible. The only time she ever felt happy was when she focused on the funny and blissful memories she had with Micayla.

“It just felt like someone was missing…someone major in my life was missing,” Stephanie said. “I wasn’t as happy. My innocence was taken away.”

She continued gymnastics, where she was overwhelmed with support from fellow athletes at the gym. Going to practice and competitions helped take her mind off her grief and helped her direct positive energy into improvement.

The biggest support for Stephanie was her parents, Diane and Don Clemens, who always had open ears but never forced her to talk about Micayla. With that sense of trust and honesty, Stephanie said that her relationship with her mom grew much closer.

“I feel like because she helped me so much, now I can talk to her about anything because that was one of the toughest things I’ve had to talk about with people,” Stephanie said.

Even though she’s better than she used to be, she still said it’s hard for her to make sense of it all.

“I really just couldn’t believe it for a long time,” Stephanie said. “I was hoping to wake up from a terrible dream.”

Stephanie wonders where Micayla would be today if she were still here. If she would still be a soccer star, if she would be going to college, if she would be graduating alongside her. Regardless, Stephanie says she is confident that Micayla would still be the girl she instantly loved and still thinks about all the time. Even though losing her was a life-altering experience, she said she learned that if you love someone, never leave their side. Never end the day angry.

“I feel like it taught me to always be kind to everyone because you never know the last time you’re going to see them,” Stephanie said.

If she could see Micayla today, she knows exactly what she would say to her.

“Thank you for always being a good friend to me and having my back no matter what,” Stephanie said. “I cherish the friendship we had for the time we did.”