NEWS: State Department Assists Family of Missing Girl

Originally posted by Odium
Aruba has been used to smuggle people, human trafficing to South America before. She's probably been kidnapped and will be used for that. Venezuela has had a lot of similar problems and Aruba is not far from that and Venezuela is also a hot spot for want-to-be-terrorists.

Shame really...

Where the heck did you hear that, odium. Aruba was never used to smuggle people to south America. That's the biggest nonsense I've heard in my life!!!

But let me give my part of the story. The night club she went to was Carlos & Charlies. I've been there lots of times before. Tourists go there all the time, get drunk and start to act crazy. I've seen enough of drunk American, and Venezuelian tourists go on stage and strip their clothes off. And there are lots of guys there that try to get those women in the sack, if you know what I mean. That girl was probably asking for it and was probably in C&C with her friends getting drunk, flirting and/or making out with guys in there. That's how it goes there.

The most probable scenario is that she is kidnapped and is being raped. Or she's staying voluntarily with a guy (from Madiki or Dakota ).

Anyway, the police found her belongings at another hotel than where she stayed. We were there today going to take a swim. The whole hotel was surrounded with cops. And there's a $50000 reward for that girl, so I hope I find her. $50000 can come in very handy you know.

You know, if RKelly was in concert on Aruba last week we would've definately know where she is, wouldn't we.

But it was only Boys II Men, Wyclef & Lauryn Hill in concert last week...

Bandit
First off, you're right about smuggling and human trafficking, those problems aren't normally associated with Aruba - certainly not at epidemic levels.

Secondly, she's a little too old for R Kelly.

On a different note, does her picture look familiar to anyone else? I feel like I've seen her before in the media, but I can't for the life of me figure out where or when...

Is anyone else getting the deja-vu tingle over this picture? (Please don't respond regarding other assorted tingles you might be feeling, this is a news forum)

Yep WyrdeOne it isn't true. And furthermore I would never let anyone blast my home with a lie like that.

Btw... I saw in one of the newspapers that they expect a definite answer on what happened to her in 24 hours.

Is anyone else getting the deja-vu tingle over this picture?

It's a glitch in the Matrix!!! Somethings going down I tell ya!!!

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
10 more FBI agents deployed to the case.
www.cbsnews.com...

Who the hell is this girl? Is this a publicity stunt for the agencies involved, to make the State Department look kind and fuzzy? Is she important for another reason? Or is she just another high priority missing white girl?

www.msnbc.msn.com...
Another interesting article on the subject. The above link questions the newsworthiness of these abduction stories. A good read IMO.

www.jsonline.com...
A great comparison of similar cases. This is a must read for anyone who truly believes there's no racism or favoritism in the reporting of missing persons cases.

And please keep it civil, I'm tired of having threads closed because some people can't control their racism, or their temper, or their big mouths. Just go elsewhere if you can't comport yourself properly.



You seem racist yourself with the fact that you are calling victims names like "little white girl", etc. YOU are the one that started the "racist" comments here. Also as far as the link about the 2 missing girls, of course the white girl is going to get more attention, NOT because she is white but because she was kidnapped at gunpoint from amillion dollar home which is not something that happens everyday so it is news. The black girl simply went missing which i am sad to say happens to a large number of kids everyday so it is not as news worthy. I do feel though that the large number of kids that go missing every year should be a bigger on going topic in the news though...

I'm racist against whites humbled_one? Does it matter that I AM white? Little white girl is a racist slur? I wasn't aware of that, I thought I drew the line at pure, unadulterated condescension.

I think the trends surrounding media coverage of missing kids speak for themselves, but I'm still interested in having a discussion on the possible solutions to this problem.

There is a tiny bit of veiled racism on this thread, but it aint comin' from me, or from you for that matter. Thankfully though, this discussion has stayed within the boundaries so far, I hope it continues in that fashion.

In any case I think you misunderstood my position. I don't want black people covered exclusively by the media, I don't want whites given that treatment either. I want one of two things, 1. no coverage of this nonsense 2. equal coverage of this nonsense.

Either will do.

I think the sensationalism in journalism is a slow, advancing rot. It's eating away at journalistic credibility from the inside out. The newspapers and news broadcasts were losing in the ratings against shows like E Entertainment Television! Since news outlets are corporate interests, they have a burning desire to make money, even to the exclusion of all else. The news changed its image to keep up with the tabloids, basically.

I think it stinks.

Of course you remark is racist, why would you add the word "little" to white girl, you are clearly showing that you have some type of issue there, on top of that it's an 18 year old high school girl you are talking about, so you are not refering to her being a little girl. A lot of racist people do not even know they are racist. Also did you not see my point about the link you sent about the black and the white girl and why the white girls abduction was reported in the news? If the black girl had been abducted at gunpoint right out of her own home it also would have been on the news as it does not happen every day, but kids going "missing" every day does happen...there would not even be time to report other news in an typical half hour news show if they were to report all the kids that went "missing" on one day in America, read the stats, it's insane. What the news should be covering is the fact that all these kids going missing everyday is out of hand and something needs to be investigated with the public getting reports on what exactly is going on...

en.wikipedia.org...

I suggest you read that, or pick up a dictionary, before you make accusations of racism.

Your point about the difference between the two cases, how does it apply to this case? Was this woman abducted at gunpoint? What's the sensational angle here? How is "18 Year Old Girl Missing" groundbreaking international news material? The other cases were simply picked for comparison because of their relative similarity, obviously every case is different.

But tell me this, did the FBI deploy a dozen men when the little black girl on the South Side of Chicago got beaten, tortured, and stuffed full of rat poison in the stairwell of her building?

No, they didn't.

Does the state department mobilize everytime somone goes missing in a foreign land? No, they don't. Does the international news cover every 18 year old girl that goes missing on vacation? No, they don't. Not even close.

So why now, why this, why her? The only reason I brought this to ATSNN is because I'm looking for answers to those questions. Why is this one special?

Could it be that her story is a cover for some other action in Aruba? The place must be swarming with feds now.

WyrdeOne,

This is in reference to your link about two different girls kidnapped and the amount of coverage. Biased media is created from biased opinions, wouldn't you agree?

www.cbsnews.com...

That hasn't necessarily been the case in Milwaukee, where some news accounts have reported that Alexis Patterson's stepfather has a criminal record that includes serving as the getaway driver in a bank robbery that resulted in the killing of a police officer.

"In my experience, the media tends to be attracted to cases that indicate a potential stranger abduction type situation," said McBride, with the Criminal Investigations Research Unit of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

"It's going to pique people's interest. Someone coming to your home and abducting your kid while you're sleeping. That could happen to any of us," said McBride. She notes that the public is less involved in the case if they feel there was some "lapse" in the parent's care of the child.

"I haven't seen a problem connected to race," said McBride. "In Arizona, we have huge Hispanic population, and we have had Hispanic kids go missing and the media goes all out."

more...

www.cbsnews.com...

The link you provided describes two different abductions, two very different abductions. Race had nothing to do with the coverage in these two very different abductions.

One is a child left unsupervised, walking to school. She isn't reported missing until end of the school day. Where'd she go missing? Did she even make it to school?

The other girl abducted from her supervised home. Taken from her own bed in the middle of the night. Which is scarier? Which will shock the public? Which gets our attention?

Let's try it this way. Tell the story of both girls (FULL story), except leave their description completely out. Which one interests you? Which one causes a change in your behavior (locking doors, alarm system), which one causes a change in the channel?

Sad? yes
True? very
Racist? excuse

[edit on 5-6-2005 by SourGrapes]

Interestingly enough, I picked up on the comments made about this being a huge problem, and how we need to do something about it. I wanted to know how huge a problem it is, in the proper context. This is an interesting read.
list.msu.edu...

Apparently, the news and our beloved politicians made a big deal out of something after it had already begun to decline. Here's a snippet from the above link.

Reports of child abductions made national headlines in winter 2002, and
intense media coverage continued throughout the summer. Frightening stories
of a stranger snatching a girl from her bed in the middle of the night or
two friends mysteriously disappearing from the same neighborhood became
front page news and aired on national television news shows.
The media attention devoted to this issue led to an increased awareness
among the public. News stories quoted parents expressing fear for their own
children's safety. State government officials became concerned and proposed
legislation to enact AMBER alert systems that notify the media and the
public immediately following a child's abduction. Even the White House
heeded these alarming stories, with President Bush holding a White House
Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children that brought leaders
together to examine the problem. Bush proposed increasing funding for the
Missing and Exploited Children's Program, which offers training to law
enforcement officers who handle missing children cases, by 26 percent in 2003.
The issue of child abductions clearly captured the public's attention, but
did the increase in media coverage reflect an actual increase in this type
of crime? Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics on child abductions
actually show that these cases have declined. The FBI investigated 263
abduction cases in 2001 and only 201 cases in 2002. These abductions
include children as well as adults. (A. Bell, personal communication, March
27, 2003).

Now the statistics themselves are up for discussion in this case, because the figures vary depending on who you get them from. The 'official' statistics say about 150 children a year are abducted by strangers. The statistics from the VCA (Vanished Children Alliance) are much higher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 a year.
www.vca.org...

Another subject is the lack of coverage of throwaways, children who are discarded by their parents. This is unthinkable, right? But some estimates say 300k kids a year are thrown away...

I found a discussion of this topic (not this missing girl, but the trend) elsewhere. Anyone interested can see the same arguments here, mirrored on a different board.
www.gutlesspacifist.com...

Edit: Removed duplicate link.

Here's a conversation between Gretta Van Susteren, Keith Woods, and Terence Smith, a conversation about the Smart and Peterson case. They provide some alternate explanations for the discrepancy, including availability of microwave trucks, availability of video clips related to the story, the similarity of the victim to the people watching the news (blacks don't watch the news?), similarity of the victim to the reporters, the point sour grapes made about smart being abducted from her home was also brought up.

I'm willing to entertain discussion, certainly. What I perceive as media bias could just be coincidence, it could be a hundred other factors. I just call 'em as I see 'em. So if you see something else, please point it out, that's what this thread is here for. Who knows, show me what you see, and I might see it to.

I think the fact that Smart was taken from her house is a possible explanation. The fact that she was taken from her multi-million dollar house is another possible explanation. Explanations abound.

[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

Now the statistics themselves are up for discussion in this case, because the figures vary depending on who you get them from. The 'official' statistics say about 150 children a year are abducted by strangers. The statistics from the VCA (Vanished Children Alliance) are much higher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 a year.
www.vca.org...

Could the difference between the 'official' statistics of 150 children per year and VCA statistics of 3000 per year have anything to do with either of these? As quoted on the link you provided.

As one of the country's oldest and most experienced missing children's organizations, VCA is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation providing nationwide and overseas assistance to families in all categories of missing children: non-family (stranger) abductions, family abductions, and runaways.

just say'n

[edit on 5-6-2005 by SourGrapes]

I'm not sure, but I think that if the VCA included overseas incidents and runaways, the numbers would be much higher than 3k, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 300k or more.

I think the discrepancy might have to do with the time spent missing. According to the DoJ, most missing children are returned within 24 hours, and so something like 97% of any given statistic is wiped from official numbers to account for that. The VCA might not follow that methodology.

Edit: UPDATE - Arrests made.

www.usatoday.com...
2 suspects captured and detained, both were apparently security guards at a nearby hotel closed for renovation.

www.cbsnews.com...



[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Police officers and three FBI agents, who are playing a supportive role in the investigation, took the two men into custody at two different houses in the southeastern town of San Nicolas, according to an AP photographer at the scene. More than a dozen FBI agents were on the island assisting in the investigation.

I hope those two men are people that I don't know. I'm living in San Nicolas. But anyway, there are a few innacuracies there. Aruba has about 97000 (legal) inhabitants. Illegal would probably reach to 110000. The 72000 inhabitants they're talking about are only the Arubians. The rest are foreigners.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
en.wikipedia.org...

I suggest you read that, or pick up a dictionary, before you make accusations of racism.

Your point about the difference between the two cases, how does it apply to this case? Was this woman abducted at gunpoint? What's the sensational angle here? How is "18 Year Old Girl Missing" groundbreaking international news material? The other cases were simply picked for comparison because of their relative similarity, obviously every case is different.

But tell me this, did the FBI deploy a dozen men when the little black girl on the South Side of Chicago got beaten, tortured, and stuffed full of rat poison in the stairwell of her building?

No, they didn't.

Does the state department mobilize everytime somone goes missing in a foreign land? No, they don't. Does the international news cover every 18 year old girl that goes missing on vacation? No, they don't. Not even close.

So why now, why this, why her? The only reason I brought this to ATSNN is because I'm looking for answers to those questions. Why is this one special?



It does'nt apply to this case but YOU are the one that put the link up saying that it was a racial thing that a wgite girl makes news and a black girl does not. YOU put the link up and made the statement, go read what you wrote.
As far as the case that is being talked about here, there may well be more to it then meets the eye, but again YOU are the one that wanted to make it look like a racial thing by your remarks in your first post. Also I do not need a dictonary to tell me that you have some kind of issues when you have to add the word "little" before "white girl"...get real...

Humbled one. The girl is 18 years old. That's still a kid. So he's still in his rights to say "little".

Anyway, I've heard that it's two guys in a neighbourhood called "De Vuyst" arrested. De Vuyst is about a mile to the east from me.

Originally posted by TheBandit795
Humbled one. The girl is 18 years old. That's still a kid. So he's still in his rights to say "little".

Anyway, I've heard that it's two guys in a neighbourhood called "De Vuyst" arrested. De Vuyst is about a mile to the east from me.

Bandit,

What's being said around your area? Most recent news I've heard is the police found and are investigating a bloody mattress.

Any speculation amongst the locals?

According to the news both MSNBC and Foxnews, the blood on the mattress does not belong to the missing girl

Originally posted by SourGrapes
Bandit,

What's being said around your area? Most recent news I've heard is the police found and are investigating a bloody mattress.

Any speculation amongst the locals?

I'm at home right now. So I don't know what they're speculating on the road. I might take a drive later in that area, but it's probably filled with very nosy people...