Missing Child Jessica Ridgeway

reply to post by JustJoe
I had forgot about these two girls. It gave me goosebumps when you mentioned them. The thought of a serial person out there preying on children scares me.

reply to post by violet


Thanks for that, Violet.

Looking at the profile list though, it is a bit vague isn't it? It covers a multitude or things so doesn't really help much! ( a bit like a tv pyschic, those descriptions could apply to a huge cross section of society).

Originally posted by popcornmafia

Originally posted by newcovenant

Originally posted by popcornmafia
reply to post by SpacebumZaphod

 

they found her alive. she was just raped and let go.

Just?

Considering how this other girl is chopped in pieces id say just....
A chip wouldn't stop this from happening these cases are very rare
and chip or no chip the nutjobs going to murder and rape are going to do it
regardless. This aint the 50s anymore how about we not let our 8 year old walk alone to
school over a mile away... Responsible parenting not chips* are needed.

edit on 12-10-2012 by popcornmafia because: (no reason given)

BS. You don't have kids. I can tell you that right now.

A CHIP WOULD HELP YOU TRACK THE CHILD WHEN THEY VANISH.
YOU TYPICALLY HAVE AT LEAST 24 HOURS TO FIND YOUR CHILD ALIVE.
I WOULD PUT IN THE EARLOBE LIKE AN EARRING, OR HIDE IT IN THE CHILDS HAIR

They use these kids before they chop em up or bury them or set the house on fire as was the case of a little 7 year old girl beaten raped and left for dead. She survived though.

If I had one they'd have a chip in them so fast your head would spin.

Their lives are worth more than any imaginary "freedom."

I would not risk them to prove a point of how free and unencumbered I am. I deal with reality for bad or for worse and lately it is much more often the latter.

A few things :

They have CLEARED the parents. Please stop pointing the finger at them. You are not psychic, the way you perceive the mom to be acting doesn't mean diddly squat.

I haven't seen this video shared on here yet. It states that a closeby school had sent out notices to parents a few weeks prior to this abduction because a man had been seen trying to lure kids into his white van by offering
them candy. It aslo says that two girls at another school district had run to the school recently reporting that a man had been following them.



I am a parent to 2 very young kids. It is never to early to start talking to them. I sat down and talked to my kids when they got home from school yesterday. We always try to teach them to respect their elders, but it is important that they also know that they can attack an adult if they feel threatened. Here is a good list of thing to cover with your kids from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

What are the most important things parents should tell children about safety?
1. Always check first with a parent, guardian, or trusted adult before going anywhere, accepting anything, or getting into a car with anyone.
2. Do not go out alone. Always take a friend with when going places or playing outside.
3. Say no if someone tries to touch you, or treats you in a way that makes you feel sad, scared, or confused. Get out of the situation as quickly as possible.
4. Tell a parent, guardian, or trusted adult if you feel sad, scared, or confused.
5. There will always be someone to help you, and you have the right to be safe.

What should a parent know when talking to a child about safety?
1. Don’t forget your older children. Children aged 11 to17 are equally at risk to victimization. At the same time you are giving your older children more freedom, make sure they understand important safety rules as well.
2. Speak to your children in a manner that is calm and reassuring. Children do not need to be frightened to get the point across. In fact, fear can thwart the safety message, because fear can be paralyzing to a child.
3. Speak openly. Children will be less likely to come to you about issues enshrouded in secrecy. If they feel that you are comfortable discussing the subject at hand, they may be more forthcoming.
4. Do not teach “stranger danger.” Children do not have the same understanding of “strangers” as adults; the concept is difficult for them to grasp. And, based on what we know about those who harm children, people known to children and/or their families actually present greater danger to children than do “strangers.”
5. Practice what you preach. You may think your children understand your message, but until they can incorporate it into their daily lives, it may not be clearly understood. Find opportunities to practice “what if” scenarios.
6. Teach your children that safety is more important than manners. In other words, it is more important for children to get themselves out of a dangerous situation than it is to be polite. They also need to know that it is okay to tell you what happened, and they won’t be tattletales

Is "stranger danger"—that dangers to kids come from people they do not know—really a myth?

Yes. In the majority of cases the perpetrator is someone the parents or child knows, and that person may be in a position of trust or responsibility to the child and family.

We have learned children do not have the same understanding of who a stranger is as an adult might, therefore, it is a difficult concept for the child to grasp. It is much more beneficial to children to help them build the confidence and self-esteem they need to stay as safe as possible in any potentially dangerous situation they encounter rather than teaching them to be "on the look out" for a particular type of person.

For decades, parents, guardians and teachers have told children to "stay away from strangers" in an effort to keep them safe. In response to the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of this advice, NCMEC has created many resources to help better safeguard children.

What other advice can you offer parents about talking to kids?
Parents should choose opportunities or “teachable” moments to reinforce safety skills. If an incident occurs in your community and your child asks you about it, speak frankly but with reassurance. Explain to your children that you want to discuss the safety rules with them, so that they will know what to do if they are ever confronted with a potentially dangerous situation. Make sure you have “safety nets” in place, so that your children know there is always someone who can help them.

National Center for Missing and exploited Children

~Okie Dokie

Originally posted by AuntB
reply to post by JustJoe

 

I had forgot about these two girls. It gave me goosebumps when you mentioned them. The thought of a serial person out there preying on children scares me.

Then you should be afraid. They do not even put all the missing children on the news unless they are from a middle class or higher family who care enough to make a stink about it. You never hear when foster children in protective custody or the children of poor drug addicts go missing. What you read about in the papers and see on TV is just the tip of the iceberg. In my area I see children walking down the road by themselves to and from school bus stops and I know they are targets for someone who pulls off the road with a puppy.

Does that mean the parents are not responsible parents?

I don't think it does. It does mean these parents are naive and these kids are in immediate danger everyday. Sometimes I want to hand them a note to take home to their parents saying exactly that but I cannot approach these kids on the street and tell them to be careful and walk in a group or have their parents pick them up as soon as they get off the bus - without appearing like a deviant myself.

reply to post by imagineering



That's not the problem. The problem is "what is the point?". I'm not learning anything, this thread isn't spreading truth or knowledge it's just "here". It's simply a fact of life in this society that children will be abducted and subject to terrible things. You think this is the worst that happens to children? Child molestation is RAMPANT in this country, but you never hear about it because the main practitioners are the elite. It's utterly pointless to make a thread that has no purpose but make inane posts about how much you "wish" or "hope" that that you KNOW is happening isn't happening.If anything this thread doesn't deny ignorance, it perpetuates it by continuing to believe that this world is a candy-filled bubblegum flavored existence where everything is rainbows and sunshine. I'm not trying to sound bleak, i'm simply saying that the main way to continue this ignorant reality we call modern-day society is by making everything seem as if it's perfectly fine.

reply to post by OkieDokie


I read a smart tip once about talking to your kids about strangers.

Often they will pull up to the child and want help. Help me find my dog, help me find the bank, etc.

Tell your kids that adults are not going to ask children for help unless they have other motives. If an adult really needs help they will ask another adult, not a child.

I don't have kids so everyone can blow me out of the water on this, but I feel it is important to give your kids a sense of a good stranger and a bad stranger. Everyone on the street isn't a danger, and everyone in a uniform isn't safe. A person can dress like a police officer and easily get a child into their car because kids are taught that police are good.

Somehow, kids need to be taught "clues". Does the person's story sound unusual? Do they seem anxious and nervous? Are they too insistent you go with them? Stuff like that. Feel free to argue another way.

reply to post by GodParticle


Well I'm sorry you feel the thread is useless.

The point of the thread is to get the girl's picture out there on a forum that has members across the world. Someone knows something. Maybe one of those people is reading this thread right now. THAT is the point.

If you don't wish to further that cause I'm not entirely sure why you're here looking at the thread.

Being that I live in Colorado, this case hits home, so to speak. I am somewhat appalled as to how it's been handled. First, the delay in getting the Amber Alert out. Then, the media release non-relevant information on the family, such as her father being on felony probation in another state...this after the police had already cleared him. Just more gossip crap and nothing that will help find this little girl. Next, the press conference yesterday, where the police say that they've found a hacked up body, have shut down roads, but that they can't give any specifics and keep looking for her. What? Is the body they found hers or not? They managed to get Bin Laden's DNA verified in about 2.8 seconds, so I have no idea why they would do this. It's got to be gut wrenching for the family!!! I think they'll find that the body they found is the little girl, and we'll now have a killer of kids on the loose and if the way this has been handled so far persists, it wouldn't shock me if they get the wrong person. It's tragic, no matter how you look at it.

On a side note, this case prompted me to install and Amber Alert app on my phone. I drive about 150 miles daily, and I figure it couldn't hurt to have the information. What made me absolutely sick this past week is how many abductions are taking place that we never hear about. Then, you start looking at the people, and many of them have been missing for years, or decades. I talked to my wife about this last night, and I wonder if finding the body may actually be a "blessing" of sorts, because it appears that there is a serious issue of NOT finding these people after they've been abducted. It's sad, really sad.

Anyway, to the OP, thank you for posting her photo, if for no other reason but to memorialize this poor little girl. If that is indeed her body, and they do catch the real perpetrator, I think it will come to blows with anyone who tells me that the killer shouldn't be executed for "human rights" reasons. I'm sick and damn tired is these thugs having more rights than their victims. I'm ranting and rambling, so I'll end it here.

Originally posted by newcovenant

BS. You don't have kids. I can tell you that right now.

A CHIP WOULD HELP YOU TRACK THE CHILD WHEN THEY VANISH.
YOU TYPICALLY HAVE AT LEAST 24 HOURS TO FIND YOUR CHILD ALIVE.
I WOULD PUT IN THE EARLOBE LIKE AN EARRING, OR HIDE IT IN THE CHILDS HAIR

They use these kids before they chop em up or bury them or set the house on fire as was the case of a little 7 year old girl beaten raped and left for dead. She survived though.

If I had one they'd have a chip in them so fast your head would spin.

Their lives are worth more than any imaginary "freedom."

I would not risk them to prove a point of how free and unencumbered I am. I deal with reality for bad or for worse and lately it is much more often the latter.

edit on 12-10-2012 by newcovenant because: (no reason given)

So because some parents cant be responsible every kid needs a chip now.

How about we pony up and start to care about our children not chipping your kid
and think it will keep them any safer say a mass school shooting. A chip going to stop a bullet.
Maybe they should all wear full body armor mandatory as well get a grp

I just noticed that the Wyoming story states that the girl was abducted in a large white SUV, and the video I posted above states that a man in a white van was trying to lure girls into his car. Might be nothing, or it could be the same vehicle. Just thought I would bring that up.

Where did the info about a blue station wagon come in?

~OkieDokie

reply to post by OkieDokie


Nice catch, hadn't noticed that.

The blue station wagon was spotted by a few people in Maine that claimed the car had Colorado plates and a girl that appeared to be Jessica.

Yesterday the police found the car in New Hampshire and verified the owner was a woman who recently moved from Colorado and had a child that resembled Jessica. It has been totally cleared as far as I know.

It really bothers me that there were apparent warnings from nearby schools which may not have been taken seriously in this neighborhood as the initial article states that this little girl was walking to school alone. She has two parents, and both were either uninformed about the threats or they chose to ignore them and let their child walk to school.

Thanks for clearing that up Tport17. So maybe people need to be looking for a suspicious white van/suv. If they aren't connected, then we have two sickos driving large white cars, but it seems like a big coincidence.

The FBI just posted pics of the car they believe to be involved in the Wy case. You can view it here


For the people who are claiming that the media only reports on middle class white kids, here are some stats on missing kids from the US Department of Justice

Nearly 800,000 children younger than 18 are missing each year, or an average of 2,185 children reported missing each day.
More than 200,000 children were were abducted by family members.
More than 58,000 children were abducted by nonfamily members.
115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know or a slight acquaintance who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently

Stats

So around 115 kids are actually "Abducted" each year in the traditional sense of "I don't know where my child is and I don't know by who or why they were taken". Other reports of missing children are runaways, custody battles gone wrong etc. I don't want to seem like I am putting down the latter reports in anyway as I am sure they are very terrible positions to be in for the families involved, but they remove the factor of bodily injury from an unknown person.

The 115 does include acquaintances.

I imagine with all that in mind that it only leaves a very few that are actually just snatched up without explanation. I think those are the ones that the national media gets involved with.

Also, from the Natioanl Estimates of Missing Children almost 60% of abductions are white children. When you have a greater rate of abductions in one ethnicity, then I am sure the rate of reporting reflects that.


~OkieDokie

Sad to say they found her body yesterday, supposedly dismembered

theres some *u*c*i*n* SICK people out there

Who the hell would do such a vile thing.

My thoughts go out to her family.

Actually it may not be her, but I think the mind-control tube told me it was, either way there is some tortured soul they found.

abcnews.go.com...

reply to post by PeaceLoveAndIllumination


Yes, they found a body in pieces on Wednesday evening/night. They have not yet determined if it is Jessica and have not told the public anything. I just read that apparently some body parts are actually missing. It is absolutely horrific whoever the body belongs to.

They are supposed to know if it is Jessica or not by this afternoon.

It's not just strangers you have to warn children about, most are molested by friends. A tip from me....keep an eye on the friends of your kids.....keep an eye on the parents. I learned this the hard way.

Notice that only 10 percent of the child sexual abusers report that they molest a child who is a stranger.

Let's put the facts together: Child molesters exist in every part of our society. They molest children close to them, mainly children in their family or children in their social circle.

Most child molesters, 90 percent, report that they know their child victims very well.

www.childmolestationprevention.org...

My son just turned five and he's heavily into superheroes etc.. He can relate to good guys and bad guys from his cartoons. I explain to him that out there (pointing outside) there are both good guys and bad guys. Most people are good but it's important to not talk to strangers because they could be a bad guy even if they seem nice.

Originally posted by timetothink
A tip from me....keep an eye on the friends of your kids.....keep an eye on the parents. I learned this the hard way.

And teachers. Don't forget teachers. Sometimes children think that because their parents tell them "Be good and do everything the teacher says" they have to keep quiet when the teacher is hurting them and telling them not to say anything.

It's important to talk to children about this, tell them that not every stranger is bad and not every person they know is good.

Ok, I know this is about the Ridgeway case, but I am really wanting to figure out if the Wy case is connected. If it is, then there would be a lot more info about the perp available since they have a description of the guy and his vehicle in that case.

The only thing that doesn't add up to me is the reports of seeing a suspicious guy round the Colorado schools a few weeks prior. It could be he was spooked and decided to follow I-80 North and ended up in Cody, Wy. After he attacked the girl there, he returned to Westminster to carry out his original plan.

After that, he would have a few options that may be likely:
He could follow I-80 E through Nebraska
He could take I-70 E through Kansas
He could return to California through Utah via 70 W (the plates in the Wy case were from CA)
Or, I think the most likely would be taking I-25 S through New Mexico to make a break for the border.

I seriously doubt he would return to Wy if he had been the perp in the case just a few days before.

Just trying to figure out anything that may help, I hesitated to post this since it is speculation, but it looks like authorities are thinking they could be related as well. ABCNews

Anyone else have any thoughts on if these two may be related and also any key states to really be watching for this guy?

Here are the locations of the towns as well as the Interstate system.

Cody, Wyoming

Westminster, Colorado

US Interstate Map

~OkieDokie