diff --git a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/EventCluster.java b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/EventCluster.java
index 9c5986c46b..ace1dd68ff 100644
--- a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/EventCluster.java
+++ b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/EventCluster.java
@@ -127,13 +127,26 @@ public class EventCluster implements MultiEvent<EventStripe> {
         this(spanningInterval, type, eventIDs, hashHits, tagged, description, lod, null);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * get the EventStripe (if any) that contains this cluster
+     *
+     * @return an Optional containg the parent stripe of this cluster, or is
+     *         empty if the cluster has no parent set.
+     */
     @Override
     public Optional<EventStripe> getParent() {
         return Optional.ofNullable(parent);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * get the EventStripe (if any) that contains this cluster
+     *
+     * @return an Optional containg the parent stripe of this cluster, or is
+     *         empty if the cluster has no parent set.
+     */
     @Override
     public Optional<EventStripe> getParentStripe() {
+        //since this clusters parent must be an event stripe just delegate to getParent();
         return getParent();
     }
 
diff --git a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/SingleEvent.java b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/SingleEvent.java
index 14517d768b..d336a66441 100644
--- a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/SingleEvent.java
+++ b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/SingleEvent.java
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ public class SingleEvent implements TimeLineEvent {
     private final boolean hashHit;
     private final boolean tagged;
 
+    /**
+     * Single events may or may not have their parent set, since that is a
+     * transient property of the current (details ) view. The parent may be any
+     * kind of MultiEvent.
+     */
     private MultiEvent<?> parent = null;
 
     public SingleEvent(long eventID, long dataSourceID, long objID, @Nullable Long artifactID, long time, EventType type, String fullDescription, String medDescription, String shortDescription, TskData.FileKnown known, boolean hashHit, boolean tagged) {
@@ -195,6 +200,14 @@ public class SingleEvent implements TimeLineEvent {
         return DescriptionLoD.FULL;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * get the EventStripe (if any) that contains this event, skipping over any
+     * intervening event cluster
+     *
+     * @return an Optional containing the parent stripe of this cluster. is
+     *         empty if the cluster has no parent set or the parent has no
+     *         parent stripe.
+     */
     @Override
     public Optional<EventStripe> getParentStripe() {
         if (parent == null) {
diff --git a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/TimeLineEvent.java b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/TimeLineEvent.java
index 4e92ff33c8..bd26026631 100644
--- a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/TimeLineEvent.java
+++ b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/timeline/datamodel/TimeLineEvent.java
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ public interface TimeLineEvent {
 
     public DescriptionLoD getDescriptionLoD();
 
+    /**
+     * get the EventStripe (if any) that contains this event
+     *
+     * @return an Optional containing the parent stripe of this event, or is
+     *         empty if the event has no parent stripe.
+     */
     public Optional<EventStripe> getParentStripe();
 
     Set<Long> getEventIDs();