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On Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, Cindy and Bryan Muehlberger arrived location aft learning their girl had been killed successful a shooting astatine Saugus High School. They instantly went to her room.
"And that's wherever I spent, like, the adjacent week oregon two. I slept successful her bed," Cindy told analogous Anderson Cooper.
Bryan said Gracie's country was a spot of comfortableness aft her death. "If we ever wanted to person a small spot much of a feeling of Gracie's presence… I would locomotion successful determination galore times and conscionable look astatine pictures and conscionable relive those moments mentally. Or laic connected her bed."
Clues astir who Gracie was are revealed successful photographs of the room: she's making comic faces with a person successful photograph booth pictures, there's a fuzzy-topped constitution seat successful beforehand of a mirror, and the outfit she was going to deterioration the adjacent time is hanging connected a covering rack.
Gracie's country is 1 of 8 that were photographed for a project that seasoned CBS News analogous Steve Hartman started with lensman Lou Bopp.
Hartman has covered schoolhouse shootings for CBS News for decades. The archetypal shooting helium reported connected was successful October 1997, erstwhile a precocious schoolhouse pupil successful Pearl, Mississippi, opened occurrence connected his classmates, sidesplitting Christina Menefee and Lydia Dew, and wounding 7 others.
"This is the embarrassing portion for me. I covered Pearl, Mississippi. I've forgotten details of it. I've forgotten the victims' names," helium told Cooper successful an interview.
"Then you get into each the different ones that person happened since. I've forgotten conscionable similar everybody other has. And that's kinda what drew maine to this project."
Hartman began sending letters to parents each astir the state whose children had been killed successful schoolhouse shootings. And his petition was simple: let him to nonstop a lensman to instrumentality pictures of their child's country and papers what was near behind.
Bopp showed Cooper the archetypal country helium photographed for the project: the country of Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old pupil who was killed astatine Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School successful Parkland, Florida.
"There was a feeling that idiosyncratic left, and they're gonna travel close back…she was successful a unreserved to get to school. And past she was gonna travel location that afternoon," Bopp told Cooper.
The images uncover a beingness that abruptly ended: 1 of her shoes is connected the floor, the headdress is disconnected the toothpaste, and her constitution is inactive sitting connected the bath counter.
The photograph task is the taxable of the Academy Award-winning Netflix documentary "All the Empty Rooms," directed by filmmaker Josh Seftel.
"I conscionable instantly thought… this is specified an absorbing mode to reframe this issue," helium told 60 Minutes.
"It's a polarized issue… but erstwhile you look astatine it from the standpoint of bare bedrooms and children, we tin each hold that we don't privation much schoolhouse shootings."
Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger remembered their girl Gracie arsenic "lively," creative, and confident.
"Full of life. Loved life, loved people. [She] was adventurous," Cindy said, her look lighting up. "[A] ace peculiar girl."
"She was conscionable a escaped tone successful truthful galore ways. She didn't truly attraction what radical thought. Always entertaining. Had a large chaotic imaginativeness and conscionable [filmed] herself each the time," Bryan told 60 Minutes.
Gracie's country played an important relation successful her originative pursuits. Bryan built Gracie a stage, with a microphone and a stand, successful her room, truthful she could sing and execute skits.
"She would execute connected that signifier each the time… [for america and] for friends," Cindy said.
"She'd marque small invitations and travel and walk them retired to america downstairs… 'The amusement starts astatine 7, you know?'" Brian remembered.
Gracie near down videos she had recorded of herself singing, dancing, acting and performing.
"I deliberation she wanted to beryllium connected camera someday, you know? Or successful movies oregon TV oregon something," Bryan told 60 Minutes.
"It's a blessing too. Because she did this [and] we've got each of these videos… And it conscionable comes rushing backmost to you and you're like, 'Yeah, determination she is.'"
The Muehlbergers recovered things successful Gracie's country aft her decease that they didn't cognize about, including notes and diary entries. In a trinket box, they discovered letters that Gracie had written to her aboriginal self.
The Muehlbergers stood implicit a room antagonistic with Cooper portion Bryan work a missive titled "First Day of High School."
"Dear Future Self: OMG, it's precocious school. I've been waiting for this time forever. Don't beryllium nervous, you'll conscionable immoderate of your lifelong friends, and besides immoderate enemies. Don't absorption connected negativity. You volition get done this. Keep the radical that marque you happy, and lose, well, the others. Ha, ha. Wear somethin' cute, obviously. I emotion you. Good luck. Gracie from the past."
"It's hard to work that 1 because, you know, she's inactive reasoning astir [the] future, lifelong friends, and you could spot the excitement," Bryan said.
"Is determination thing you've learned successful your grief that would beryllium adjuvant for others?" Cooper asked the Muehlbergers.
"You ne'er cognize if you're gonna person different tomorrow…I didn't cognize that substance was gonna beryllium the past 'I emotion you' from her and the past 'I emotion you' from maine to her," Bryan said.
"Life is truthful abbreviated and truthful precious… don't beryllium truthful focused connected time and the aboriginal and forego what's close successful beforehand of you and the happiness you tin person close successful beforehand of you."
Bryan Muehlberger has a punctuation from Gracie's diary tattooed connected his arm, the diary introduction wherever she decided to constitute letters to her aboriginal self.
"You lone person 1 beingness to live, truthful wherefore not unrecorded it great, real, and capable it with memories and experiences?" their girl wrote.
"It's beauteous powerful. So, we effort to unrecorded our beingness similar that now," Cindy said.
Bryan agreed. "We truly do. That's our mantra for beingness now."
"I heard a communicative 1 clip astir grief, however erstwhile it happens your beingness is thing much than this achromatic ball. It's each encompassing," Bryan told Cooper.
"The lone mode to determination guardant is to adhd caller memories and caller experiences and caller emotion and everything astir it. And arsenic that sphere grows, that shot ne'er gets immoderate smaller, that shot of grief. You conscionable person much astir it."
The video supra was primitively published connected November 23, 2025. It was produced by Will Croxton and was edited by Nelson Ryland.
Footage courtesy of Netflix.
If you oregon idiosyncratic you cognize is struggling with the nonaccomplishment of a child, support networks are available.
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Daughter's words animate parents to unrecorded
A daughter's words animate her parents to clasp life
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