PORT ANGELES — Intelligent. Creative. Caring. Kind and a go-getter.
Melissa Leigh Carter was all these things in the words of her mother, brother and a friend.
A gold honor-roll student at Stevens Middle School in Port Angeles.
Active in a Sequim Bible youth group.
A regular once at the teen hangout known as PLURA — for peace, love, unity and respect.
A student at Choice Community High School.
She was all these things, too, say people who knew her.
Most people know only that the 15-year-old’s body was found Dec. 26 on a path above the Waterfront Trail not far from the Red Lion Hotel, the victim of an apparent homicide.
They know that she was homeless. They know that she often was part of the crowd at Front and Lincoln streets, a favorite hangout of homeless teenagers.
And for some people, those facts are enough.
But “Messa Mae,” as her friends and family called her, was “a sensitive, caring person who looked for the good in everyone she met,” in the words of her mother, Carla J. Carter of Salem, Ore.
“Messa did not judge anyone, whether rich, poor, fat, thin, black or white,” her mother told Peninsula Daily News.
“What mattered to Messa was what is inside a person, and those close to her knew her as a loyal friend.
“She just thought she could save the whole world.”
Outside the labels
Melissa’s brother, Brandon, tried to place her outside the labels of “homeless” and “street kid.”
“Even though the community looked at her, me and her friends as hoodlums, we are no different from anyone else in the world,” he wrote.
“It hurts me to know our own community looks at us this way.
“Yes, my little sister befriended the homeless teens — what caring, kindhearted person wouldn’t?”
Shannon Campbell, 23, who described Melissa as “an acquaintance,” said: “She was really sweet. She was just nice.
“I think she was an intelligent person. I think she was creative. I can’t really tell you why; you just get that from a person.”