Jensen Conners.

A baby was the absolute last thing on Lisa Owens's mind. She was too busy focusing on earning the title of high school valedictorian and submitting applications to every Ivy League university available to her on the East Coast. In every way but one, Lisa Owens was starkly different than any other girl at Desert Vista High School. It was that one similarity that turned out to be her inevitable downfall.

Jonathan Parker was that clean-cut, all-American high school football star with a bit of a bad boy edge that most high school girls spent their days swooning over. He knew his appeal; he used it readily to his advantage. It was that allure that captured Lisa Owens's eye at an otherwise average Saturday night party. It was never meant to go as far as it went. Lisa told him 'no,' but Jonathan was never one to listen to things he didn't like to hear. He took what he wanted and left Lisa to pick up the pieces afterward. Three weeks later, Lisa felt consistently sick to her stomach, and a single basic test confirmed her absolute worst fear: She was pregnant.

When she told Jonathan about the pregnancy, he denied ever having anything to do with her. It was part fear and part protection of his reputation that spurned his complete shunning of her, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Lisa was left much to her own devices for the entirety of her pregnancy. Luckily, her parents supported her decision to at the very least have the baby, and she was permitted to remain in their home so long as this didn't affect her academics. When she began to show, the taunts and teases at school grew even worse than before, leaving Lisa to wonder if her good intentions were worth all of the hassle.

She sought out a home for the child that she was carrying. It needed to be stable, preferably of decent wealth, and she wanted to ensure that her child would be given the best of everything in life. Her parents aided the process and, just two weeks before the birth of her son, Lisa found the Conners couple. Marcus was a neurologist, Elizabeth an interior decorator. The couple had been thus far unable to conceive their own children. Nearing their thirties, Marcus and Elizabeth were both hopeful to find a child that they could raise from infancy and call their own. It was the perfect pairing for both parties and, on the day of her son's birth, Lisa handed him into the arms of Elizabeth Conners without regret.

Jensen Alexander Conners lived a fairly charmed life. He was by no means handed everything that he wanted, but he certainly never had to want for much. He never caused much trouble as a child. All the way up until junior high, Jensen tended to shy away from many social situations and stick close to his parents where large gatherings of people were concerned. On his twelfth birthday, however, Elizabeth Conners swore that her son transformed into a completely different person.

He shifted from a shy, reserved, and quiet boy into a rambunctious, wild, and rebellious preteen. Any sort of trouble he could find, Jensen got into it. It wasn't so much that he needed attention from his parents, because he received plenty of that -- he just loved to push boundaries and test limits. He didn't believe in either. It was around this time that Jensen met his partner in crime. Jack Jacobs was exactly like Jensen in all the best ways and completely opposite him in every way that he needed to be. The boys wreaked havoc everywhere that they went. Marcus and Elizabeth allowed their son to do most anything, so long as his trouble-causing didn't hinder his schoolwork. He was disciplined when necessary, but for the most part, Jensen was granted fierce freedom to explore the world around him.

In high school, Jensen did the best he could to make all right grades. He never managed better than a 2.5 grade point average. He was terrible at most subjects. He was best when working with his hands, which meant that extracurricular activities like shop proved to be his niche. He could have done well without everything else.

Just barely scraping by, Jensen graduated high school near the middle of his class. He didn't fail any subjects, luckily, due to the fact that his parents had invested in after-school programs and extensive tutoring to ensure that didn't happen. Even still, Jensen didn't love school. He hated nearly every part of it, actually. When the time came for him to choose whether or not he wanted to attend college, Jensen struggled through two years of basics before he determined that an associates in anything was good enough for him. Following that, Jensen chose to pursue something that kept his hands busy and made him feel a sense of accomplishment. Fresh from college, Jensen landed a job at Larry Harker's Auto Repair. Larry took Jensen under his wing and, pretty soon, Jensen was just as good at fixing up cars as Larry himself.

Money was good. Life was rolling at a rapid pace. Jensen felt useful. He moved out of his parents' place and banked on a low-rent apartment on the outskirts of Phoenix. On his twenty first birthday, the boys at the shop decided to take Jensen out for drinks at every rundown bar in town. Sufficiently drunk and falling all over himself pretty disgustingly, it was the absolute worst time for Jensen to meet the love of his life. Lynne accepted Jensen from the get-go. She even offered to drive him home and, from that night on, Jensen spent every spare second he could find with Lynne. It didn't take him long to pop the question. Lynne didn't hesitate, and Jensen took her to Vegas for a shotgun elopement two weeks later.

The summer after eloping, Lynne found out that she was pregnant. Jensen was less than thrilled with the idea of bringing a child into the world, but he was staunchly against abortion. He wouldn't even let Lynne consider the possibility. Nine months later, Jaela Lynne Conners was born, and Jensen began to feel this strange sense that his life was complete.

It was all too good to be true. One of the few ex-girlfriends that Jensen had before Lynne got wind of the happy suburban life that he was living with Lynne and Jaela -- a life with Jensen that was meant to be hers. For a series of weeks, she didn't cause any real trouble. She followed Jensen from work to home and back again. He was far too consumed with all of the good things in his life to realize anything was unraveling on its outskirts.

On a cool day in March, things came to a head. Jensen's ex showed up at the door of the home he shared with his wife and daughter. He handled her the best that he could, struggling to keep Lynne out of the fray, and calmly requested that she leave his property. If he had been smarter, Jensen might have taken the time to call the police. He might even have suggested that Lynne take Jaela to her parents' for the weekend. Unfortunately, Jensen saw only that his request had been respected, and he neglected to consider any repercussions after the fact.

It was the middle of the night when Jensen woke to strange, scuffling sounds above him. His ex had a good hold of his wife and a gun against Lynne's temple. Jensen begged her not to take the shot. He tried every persuasive, pleading approach imaginable. In the end, though, his attempts were all failures. He barely had time to register her finger on the trigger before the shot rang out, and she was ten seconds too fast for him on lodging a bullet in her own head before he could stop her. Scrambling from the bed, Jensen sprinted for his daughter's bedroom, silently praying to God the whole way there that his ex had never even known Jaela existed. His prayers were all futile; his ex had gotten to their four year old daughter before she'd ever come to handle the two of them.

On March 22, 2008, Jensen laid his wife and daughter to rest in Resthaven Park. The memory of their murders was too much for him to handle and, for a handful of months following, Jensen spoke to no one outside of his family and Jack. He pulled so far into himself that Jensen's boss began to wonder if he should find another place to work.

It turned out, after a time, that Jensen finding a new place of employment wouldn't be much of an issue. The memories of his life in Phoenix, with Lynne and with Jaela, were far too painful for him to stay. One morning, with no real warning whatsoever, Jensen threw himself into a spontaneous road trip across the country. He didn't know exactly where he was going, and he didn't care too much where he ended up, but he had to get out of Arizona.

Jensen eventually found himself in New York City, New York, after over two weeks of stop-and-go traveling. Jensen finally felt far enough away from Phoenix that he could breathe without feeling completely hollow. It didn't take long for him to find another job as a mechanic, but it didn't hold the same weight as it had before. He wanted to do something more meaningful to honor the memory of Lynne and Jaela. Pushing himself through the police academy, every physical test a struggle with his smoker's lungs, Jensen graduated successfully as a member of the New York Police Department in early 2010. Bouncing from one seedy motel room to another, Jensen finally scraped together enough income to garner an apartment. Although he has never completely let go of what happened to his family, Jensen does make every attempt to live his life as much as he feels entitled -- which, to most people, is virtually not at all. He is still struggling every day to cope with his losses, but he does his best to go through all the motions.