Living in LoCo correspondent Val Cavalheri writes about the South Riding neighborhood and has this dispatch for us.

As reports hit South Riding about two teenagers charged with concealing the body of their 19-year-old friend Peter Vold and another with purchasing liquor for the group, residents in the neighborhood expressed sorrow for a life lost and tolerance for the younger offenders and their families.

Most people agreed with Tricia Haneghan, the PTA president of Liberty Elementary, who said she feels that turning the teenagers into convicted criminals would not bring back Vold but that some disciplinary action should be taken:

“On one hand, the kids need to be punished for their crime – that crime being the cover up of the death,” Haneghan said. “On the other hand, to put two young people in jail is to most likely send them down a criminal path that will only get worse.”

All agreed that the third person involved - Ryan B. McNeill of Fairfax County, 24, charged with buying the teenagers alcohol - should be held accountable and that his behavior was comparable to parents providing alcohol at parties for their high school children. Rumors of other adults in the community who might have known what was going on but who didn't call the police/hospital or who might have provided the young people with alcohol were not confirmed.

Some of the people I spoke with said they were frustrated that the two teens didn’t try to contact anyone else who might have been able to help.

Mike Nette blamed their youth and inexperience in not knowing how to handle serious situations, adding that a lack of parental guidance could be to blame.

“You've got to look at their parents and families to see why they behaved the way they did,” Nette said. “Peter would probably be alive today if they had called an adult they could trust for advice.”

John Farrell, who is a resident of South Riding and owner of South Riding Pediatrics, expressed a different view.

“Not that this is a failure of parents, [but it could be the result of] the more common failure of teenagers to listen and then understand consequences,” he said. “I am unsure if they knew Peter had died or if they thought he ‘passed out’ when he was abandoned.”

Nette said he disagreed with a sentiment expressed in the comments section on LoudounExtra.com that the teenagers might have gone to police officers for help if they had felt they could trust them.

“The deputies here relate very well to the youths of our community,” he said. “This is not a law enforcement issue; it's lack of trust and/or education about the real world. Hopefully, this tragedy will serve as a esson for discussion between parents and their children.”

Democratic Del. Chuck Caputo of the 67th District was disheartened when he heard about the failure of the teens to seek adult counsel, feeling that Vold’s death was preventable.

Earlier this year, Caputo introduced House Bill #740 as a response to a suspicious alcohol-related death in 2005 of a Chantilly student who was away at college. Janet Graham, the mother of Henry Graham III who died at Ferrum College in March 2005, said she was very upset when she read the news reports about Vold, because of the similarities to her son's death. She hopes that other parents won’t have to go through what she did.

Had Caputo's bill - which provides that an underage drinker who summons law enforcement or medical assistance on behalf of another is eligible for deferred disposition of his case - been a law, Graham said, maybe Vold could have been saved because the kids might have had the courage to contact authorities. Unfortunately, Caputo said, the bill was not even considered by lawmakers. As a result of Vold’s death, Caputo promises to reintroduce the bill.