The impact of the loss, the level of heartbreak and the scope of the tragedy was summed up when Sharon Love, mother of Yeardley Love, addressed the jury.
"Every year that goes by," Sharon Love said, her voice choked with emotion, "I'm afraid I'm forgetting little pieces about her and that worries me."
Love was talking about Yeardley.
On the morning of May 3, 2010, Sharon Love received the worst news a parent can hear.
Yeardley, a 22-year-old senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia, was dead.
George W. Huguely V, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, also a 22-year-old senior at Virginia and a member of the men's lacrosse team, had been charged with Yeardley's murder.
Wednesday, Huguely was convicted of second-degree murder and grand larceny — he left Love's apartment with her laptop computer.
The jury recommended Huguely serve 25 years on the murder charge and one year for grand larceny.
Rhonda Quagliana, one of Huguely's lawyers, had asked the jurors to keep in mind Huguely was 22 when he made this terrible mistake, and any 22-year-old is capable of making a terrible mistake.
That might have made an impact without Sharon Love's testimony to the jury after the verdict was delivered.
She drove home her sense of loss, unending pain and despair.
"I'm not really over it," Sharon Love said through tears.
Some days, she invokes a mental block and, "I can bear it. But some days are unbearable."
Until that morning in May, Huguely led a life of privilege. It was a life, however, that was increasingly affected by alcohol abuse and anger management issues. That combination led to Love's death.
Huguely must pay the price for his crime.
Huguely, 24, faces 26 years in a state penitentiary without the possibility of parole.
However, when he has served his time, he will rejoin his family.
Yeardley Love's family never will see her again.
This case also should serve as a cautionary tale for every college athletic department in the country.
When parents send their children off to become intercollegiate athletes, everyone should know there will be difficult times. But no matter what, the children should be safe.
Ultimately, Yeardley Love was not safe.
The NCAA and college athletic programs rely on alcohol advertising as a revenue stream.
And each alcohol ad carries the plea to please drink responsibly.
Perhaps that should be replaced with a 30-second summation of the volatile combination of Huguely, alcohol and anger.
Or maybe Huguely's lament to the police that he never should have gone to Love's apartment when he was drinking would suffice.
So much heartbreak could have been avoided if only he had heeded that thought.
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