EVENTS STUN FAMILY, FRIENDS

Family and friends of Carol Jean Lindley gathered Thursday night at Landess Funeral Home in Campbell to share stories of her life and sadness over her death.

Visitation will be again from 6 to 9 tonight. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the funeral chapel.

Some of those same friends, relatives, neighbors and classmates were stunned to hear that Joshua Wolf, 16, is suspected of killing his maternal grandmother, who was 56.

The past few days have been difficult for Sam Wolf, Joshua Wolf's paternal grandfather. "I have all the emotions but nothing to go on," Wolf said in a telephone interview from his Columbus, Ohio, home.

Wolf couldn't believe his grandson would have killed Lindley because she refused to buy him an all-terrain vehicle or hook his television set to a satellite dish. "They gave him everything," Wolf said.

Wolf hadn't talked to his grandson recently; he didn't know until this week that the Lindley family had moved to the Cape Girardeau area from Columbus. Lindley had taken a new job with St. Francis Medical Center.

Wolf said he has not been in contact with the Lindley family since the killing and has only talked with their neighbors to gain details.

"We're clear on the outside," he said. "It's tough."

He hoped to learn more but wasn't sure when it would come.

Relationships between the Wolf and Lindley families have been tense since Joshua Wolf's parents divorced when he was a toddler. Joshua and his sister, Ashley, do not see their father, Charles Wolf, who also lives in Columbus.

His grandfather kept in touch through cards and gifts sent in the mail. Sam Wolf always invited his grandson to a family picnic and golf outing "just so he'd know he had a zillion cousins."

Joshua had declined last year's invitation.

"The last day he spent with me was at the picnic" almost two years ago, Wolf said. "I was just about to mail his invitation for this year."

Joshua Wolf was a good athlete and played on the golf team at his former high school, Westerville North High School in Columbus. He also was good at archery and had good hand-eye coordination, his grandfather said.

Joshua Wolf hadn't been at R.O. Hawkins Junior High School in Jackson long enough to have joined any sports teams, but he seemed to make plenty of friends in just a few days. He had been at the school only five days when the killing happened.

He attended a school dance Friday night and classes on Monday. Police believe he killed his grandmother over the weekend and then set a fire Monday to conceal the crime.

Wolf gathered his assignments and left classes early Monday, telling classmates he was going back to Ohio to see his sister. He had tried to withdraw from school but couldn't without parental permission, sources said.

Dennis Parham, principal at Hawkins Junior High School, couldn't offer any explanations for Wolf's actions. "There wasn't any indication from what we got from his records," he said. "He was a good student who took honors courses and played sports."

Teachers said Wolf was a "mannerly, polite student" who wasn't a problem in class.

"He seemed like a normal kid," Parham said.

Ashley Hardin, 16, was a classmate of Wolf's at the Jackson school. "I think it's hard to believe because I talked to him every day after class," she said. "He just didn't seem like that type of guy, you know. He seemed like a well-brought-up guy. He was always polite to me and always had a smile on his face."

Parham said counselors were available at the school for any student who wanted to talk about what had happened. Few were using the service, however.

"He wasn't here long enough to make a connection with the kids," Parham said.

Students at Westerville North High School were shocked by the event. Many are angry about what happened and cannot make sense of it. Counselors also talked to students in Ohio, a family friend said.

James Lang said, "I would never have thought of him to do something this extreme. He was a normal kid that excelled in a variety of sports. Josh was a close friend of mine."

Lang and Wolf have been friends for eight years. The two talked only two weeks before, when Wolf left Ohio for Missouri.

Wolf's former English teacher in Ohio wrote via e-mail, "His former classmates and I are bewildered and upset at the news of the death of his grandmother."

Lindley was Wolf's maternal grandmother. His paternal grandmother, Georgia Wolf, was killed in her Columbus apartment in 1991. The homicide remains unsolved.

The combination of events has been difficult for the Wolf family and for former co-workers of Lindley's.

She had worked at Columbus Community Hospital for 28 years, 10 of them in an administrative job. The hospital will hold a memorial service for Lindley either Monday or Tuesday. A staff chaplain will conduct that service, which will be open to all hospital employees.

"Carol was upbeat and always found the positive in things," said Mike Brown, president of Columbus Community Hospital.

Counselors have been available for any staff person who wanted to talk about the incident. "We are talking to employees and finding out the places where we need to spend more time," he said.

Several staff members will fly from Columbus to attend the funeral service Saturday, Brown said.

Lindley and her husband, William, had been high school sweethearts at Holcomb. Family members still live in the area.