Richard Lavallee shook his head when he remembered all the nice things Joanne Witt would do for co-workers at the El Dorado County Department of Transportation.
"She would do all the cooking for office potlucks and Thanksgiving. She would bring in decorations and plates and bowls," Lavallee said.
Witt was found dead in her El Dorado County home on Monday. Lavallee said co-workers grew concerned when she failed to show up for work Friday and Monday. He said she also failed to pick up camping equipment she planned to borrow from a co-workers to go camping over the weekend.
El Dorado County sheriff deputies said they expect to charge Witt's 14-year-old daughter Tylar Marie Witt and her 19-year-old boyfriend Steven Colver with the murder. The pair was found behind a restaurant Wednesday in San Bruno after a three-day search.
Lavallee said things spun out of control at the Witt home when Colver was kicked out of his house and Joanne Witt allowed him to move in. "She took him in, but he wasn't the boyfriend at first. That wasn't the understanding," Lavallee said.
Witt didn't find out her daughter had been intimate with Colver until later, according to Lavallee. "She tried to have him arrested for statutory rape and she didn't get anywhere with the authorities on that issue," Lavallee said.
However, Witt did get Colver to move out. Sheriff records show the next day, she called authorites saying she had been assaulted by her daughter, who was taken to juvenile hall.
Lavallee believes Colver should have been taken to jail, too. "This is a 19 year old man with a 14 year old girl. (Sheriff deputies) wouldn't take any action on that. If they had, (Witt) would have been alive today," Lavalee said.
Deputies say late last week, Witt was stabbed to death in her home. "It's just absolutely shocking. People at work are taking it pretty hard," Lavallee said.
This is so sad. Tylar probably thought that she couldn't live without this boy. But sooner or later while she is sitting in prison, she is going to discover that she didn't really love him. And then she is going to want her mother back. She will regret this every day for the rest of her life after that moment. Bet she is sitting in jail right now, crying for her mommy.
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