Others will remember in their own ways. The family attended St. Boniface Catholic Church in Farmington. Fr. Apo Mpanda, the parish priest, indicated the congregation will remember the family, but asked for privacy.

“What we do will be private,” he said. “We don’t talk to the media.”

Bonaparte’s cemetery, where the family is buried, is near the town’s entrance. Pieces of a broken geode sparkle on each grave. Bracelets made of leather from yellow softballs are on the girls’ graves. A Willow Tree figurine of a couple in an embrace is on Mike and Sandra Bentler’s tombstone. Small wind chimes jingle in the breeze.

A few feet from the graves is a bench. The grass in front of the bench is sparse, scuffed up by the feet of visitors who just want to sit and be close to their friends.

The Bentler and Mendez families attended every day of Shawn’s trial. They turned up at Harmony’s games to cheer the teams the girls played for. People in the community remember. It helped everyone.

Family members say they’re not ready to say much. There are ongoing legal battles over Mike Bentler’s business and whether Shawn’s daughters can inherit anything. They say there’s too much bitterness, the wounds are too raw. For them, it’s not over yet.

For the town, life persists. No one has forgotten, but lives aren’t on hold the way they were last year, said Cindy Meade.

“It was a horrible tragedy, but life has to go on,” she said.

Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com