The possibility of the Kelowna RCMP investigators finally breaking the 16-year-old murder investigation into the death of Jennifer Cusworth had been eagerly anticipated by her parents.

Jennifer’s parents, Terry and Jean Cusworth, had faithfully gathered the local media every year on the anniversary of her death to raise public attention to the fact their daughter’s death remained unsolved.

So at this year’s recent press conference called by the Cusworths, the media were told that DNA forensic science advances had shed new light on the case.

The concept of someone being arrested, being held responsible for their daughter’s death, offered some potential closure for Jennifer’s parents.

But when that arrest came last week, oddly enough it may have opened more wounds than it closed.

For the Cusworths, they may finally find out why their daughter was brutally murdered. It just may take a year or more of criminal proceedings, a preliminary hearing, a trial before it all comes out.

But for the family and friends of Neil George Snelson, charged with Jennifer Cusworth’s murder, it dregs up more questions than answers.

Snelson is married and has four children. They are left to deal with the emotional baggage of a husband’s and father’s arrest has made.

For friends who now know Snelson, many who also knew Cusworth, they are left to wonder how could this really be true, their friend giving no indication to them that such a heinous crime could have been committed by him.

And for the members of Snelson’s church, they are left to ask that same question.

In the end, the reality we all face is to wonder how well we really know the people who we feel are close to us, whether they be family or friends, and our capacity to bury some secrets of our lives even to those who are closest to us.