It was shortly after dawn on Nov. 13 when the confrontation came.
According to published reports, Kara had spent the night away from home. She had told her parents that she was staying with a friend, but when she returned home with David Ludwig, her parents were waiting.
Authorities have released few details of what happened that morning. But according to a report in the Lancaster New Era, David Ludwig was prepared for the confrontation. Witnesses later told the newspaper that when Ludwig showed up at the house that morning, he was carrying a red duffel bag. In it, the newspaper reported, there were several weapons, including handguns and a knife.
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| Mike Borden |
Though the details remain sketchy, Michael Borden reportedly instructed Ludwig to leave the bag outside, and when Ludwig apparently complied, he turned his back on the young man, leading him into the house. He did not realize, it seems, that Ludwig had slipped a .40 caliber handgun — one of more than 50 guns apparently kept by his family in their home — into his pocket. According to published reports, Ludwig allegedly shot the unsuspecting man in the back of his head, and as the Borden's horrified younger children looked on he then allegedly executed Cathryn Borden.
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| Cathryn Borden |
By all accounts, Ludwig then fled with Kara in tow. But police, summoned to the house after young David Borden fled to a neighbor's house, had no way of knowing that the gunman and the young girl were already on the run. They surrounded the house, expecting a siege, according to published reports, and by the time they finally realized that David Ludwig and Kara Borden were gone, Ludwig already had a two-hour head start.
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