Found Deceased AL - Amberly Barnett, 11, Mt. Vernon, DeKalb County, 1 Mar 2019 #2 *ARREST*

[gitana1]

Oh 100% I agree, a serial predator isn’t going to be like “you know what, you’re correct. This is wrong I should stop”.

I was more referencing to the thinking that she shouldn’t have been dressing “provocatively” or wearing makeup or whatever. I think our responsibility as women is to take care of ourselves because this is the reality of the world that we live in... but beyond that responsibility, violence against women is not ever a woman’s fault.

Of course, she wasn't a woman. She was a little girl. Poor kid.

 

[gitana1]

I just have to jump in here. I have an 11 year old. Please STOP with the comments about her appearance. If you look at most of the photos, she looks like a typical adorable sweet 11 year old. Makeup? She is in a dress. Could be a daddy dance, could be a dance recital, could be a play. Who cares! This isn’t the point. She was loved and didn’t ask for this. Instagram or no instagram. No victim blaming especially with an 11 year old!!!! I don’t care how old she looked. IMO respectfully. And I’m not responding to this post, I’m adding to it! 100% agree.

If you think someone is victim blaming you should probably report it.

 

[happyday]

:-(

This child was surrounding by those not paying enough attention to her well being.

Drugs, lack of stability, abusers living close by, etc.

True, but there are many children in the same situation and most of them are not abducted or murdered.

Elizabeth Smart was in the exact opposite situation and she was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted. She was not even left alone at the time.

I’m just not sure there’re any lessons to be learned here.

ETA sad faces

 

[ReckoningDay]

Bottom line, she should have been protected like the little girl she was.

 

[BingoBongo]

Bottom line, she should have been protected like the little girl she was.

Yes!

 

[ab01]

Things were definitely not ideal, mom had moved out of state to be with a man who is currently incarcerated. AB and her brother were living in a small single wide trailer with 7 people including themselves. It almost amazes me just the shear logistics of that many people living in that small of space. And less than 50yds away was a violent meth addict. Makes me feel very sad with the situations that AB probably witnessed as she was growing up. Just so tragic all around to be honest. Moo

 

[Sheila Terranova]

Sexualizing/fetishizing children in clothing, animation, advertising, online, etc is at minimum disturbing. Leaving children unsupervised; without a responsible adult present is at minimum disturbing. Yet we know a variety of crimes against children occur in the absence of “provocative” triggers and even occur in the presence of responsible supervising adults (recall the USAA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s serial predations).

What we know from the news and from history is that neither burkas, desexualized vegetative status, or advanced geriatric standing will immunize a human from horrific acts of physical, sexual, and other forms of torture, abuse, or destruction. It’s not even a prerequisite that the victim be alive or be, or have been, a human.

It’s natural to want to find some lesson in this — something a person or the person’s neighbors, village, guardians, or the state should have done or not done to lessen themselves or their loved ones being the target of perps. There is a spectrum of things one may try — but ultimately the sad reality is that no one can guarantee another’s safety in this world — no matter how much this is what we would want.

The Gift of Fear is my go to book — it’s the best I can do to keep my mind aligned with the reality of the brutality and evil that exists in our world. It comes in as many forms as the goodness and light.

That Amberly’s light got snuffed out is a crime beyond justice. The only true justice to be had would rewind this tape, would be to turn back time for every victim and every survivor, to have made her and his and their horror never to have happened.

Rest In Peace, Sweet Girl. Not a soul in the world believes you or your family deserves this, or blames you. Nothing you did or didn’t do caused this or tempted fate. You were 11. You deserved and well wore all the beauty you radiated. You deserved so much more.

Gift of fear is excellent.
I'm getting tired of hearing my own voice, as I'm sure you all are too, but the example of the gymnast doctor actually does fit the profile. My mother, the homicide reporter, would be very leery of the people I as a child and an adult found the most noble...teachers, scout leaders, pediatricians...anything focused on children. I became a teacher. Her experience and leeriness covering murder for decades was that although the majority of scout leaders, pediatrician, teachers were amazing....the pedophiles were in fact drawn to children, and opportunities, and careers, that gave them access. The whole subject is deeply disturbing, but ignoring criminal predilections,patterns or facts , or wishing them away, doesn't improve the world's safety , women's safety, or children's safety as much as knowledge. And obviously there are always wild cards, exceptions to the rule. Hopefully we are a team that might be helpful sleuthing crimes, and don't shoot our messengers.

 

[BingoBongo]

True, but there are many children in the same situation and most of them are not abducted or murdered.

Elizabeth Smart was in the exact opposite situation and she was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted. She was not even left alone at the time.

I’m just not sure there’re any lessons to be learned here.

You don't stop protecting the hen house because a wolf has broken into the one next door.

 

[ludakristen]

True! But how serial killers or sexual predators if you ask them to please be nice will immediately change course? Girls should never live in terror that an outfit will get them murdered, ever! But we also want to be as wise as a serpent....don't supply amazing opportunity for crime...crime needs a motivation and an opportunity. ..My daughter's lovely. I only asked her to have a buddy if she went out drinking so she didn't go forth alone and disoriented,possibly smashed, at two am, in her disco clothes. Victim shaming is wrong. But of all people, we on this site, should know there are evil predators. Not giving them amazing opportunity is wise, not the same as victim shaming. And I am a "victim". I did the counseling, I get it. But we don't want to be naive about how these people operate, or think if just educate them, all these girls would have been safe. It is not, I repeat, the girls' fault, even one percent.

I think our responsibility extends past limiting opportunity to ourselves and our daughters but overall, how we parent our children -- specifically our sons. I have a son and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he grows up to understand how to manage his emotions, how to express them in healthy ways, what a healthy loving or sexual relationship looks like, how to treat another human being. How to have empathy.

This is, I think, where we have the MOST impact -- and the largest ripple effect. The work done in our homes, in our families, is eternal.

 

[gitana1]

True, but there are many children in the same situation and most of them are not abducted or murdered.

Elizabeth Smart was in the exact opposite situation and she was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted. She was not even left alone at the time.

I’m just not sure there’re any lessons to be learned here.

Probably not. Because those who neglect children aren't going to stop due to this or any other child murder.

But I knew someone would bring up Elizabeth Smart or Polly Klass. Well cared for children from affluent or upper middle class families who were still taken and killed.

They are anomalies.

For every Elizabeth Smart there are a hundred Katie Beers or Cherish Perriwinkles, IMO.

 

[cybervampira]

Are we allowed to mention the second go fund me account? .......

No. Not the first. Not the second. Not any other GoFMs.

 

[ab01]

Probably not. Because those who neglect children aren't going to stop due to this or any other child murder.

But I knew someone would bring up Elizabeth Smart or Polly Klass. Well cared for children from affluent or upper middle class families who were still taken and killed.

They are anomalies.

For every Elizabeth Smart there are a hundred Katie Beers or Cherish Perriwinkles, IMO.

Ya unfortunately the people one generally interacts with on a daily basis greatly lowers or raises the likelihood of them being approached by someone like CM. That’s just the sad truth. And unfortunately a little 11 yr old girl can’t make that choice. Somebody has to do that for her Moo

 

[crussell821]

All children, whether they are living in good circumstances or bad circumstances, whether they are poor students or great students, whether they wear makeup or still play with dolls, whether they've done something society agrees with or if they haven't...all children are worthy of love and protection. Every single one of them.

 

[1&2&3]

Do we know if CM has a history of this kind of treatment to children and has never been caught?

 

[LietKynes]

Do we know if CM has a history of this kind of treatment to children and has never been caught?

Agreed.

Not a stretch to think he has other victims out there....

 

[whoizzit]

Do we know if CM has a history of this kind of treatment to children and has never been caught?

I'm willing to wager that his children were taken by the state some time ago; that he is a frequent flier.

 

[PayrollNerd]

I'm willing to wager that his children were taken by the state some time ago; that he is a frequent flier.

If both parents were arrested the same night, and the evidence of meth was near the children, I think LE would have Children’s Services step in. One parent could have contacted a relative nearby and that may have sufficed. I’m not familiar enough with that process. If he’s been abusing kids in some fashion prior to be caught, that would be hearsay, not fact.

 

[whoizzit]

If both parents were arrested the same night, and the evidence of meth was near the children, I think LE would have Children’s Services step in. One parent could have contacted a relative nearby and that may have sufficed. I’m not familiar enough with that process. If he’s been abusing kids in some fashion prior to be caught, that would be hearsay, not fact.

My belief is that Children's Services had stepped in long before the night of the arrests.
The two kids were not currently living in Trailer 2. imo

*work with me here to avoid violating TOS

 

[gitana1]

All children, whether they are living in good circumstances or bad circumstances, whether they are poor students or great students, whether they wear makeup or still play with dolls, whether they've done something society agrees with or if they haven't...all children are worthy of love and protection. Every single one of them.

Here, of all places, you're preaching to the choir.

 

[gitana1]

Do we know if CM has a history of this kind of treatment to children and has never been caught?

I wonder. I was surprised to learn awhile back that not all child predators are classic pedophiles and that many are simply degenerate and opportunistic monsters who simply see someone vulnerable and defenseless and go for it. They may not be particularly "attracted" to children. So while you might typically see things like domestic violence, assault, drug and alcohol histories, you might not see patterns of child sexual predation in their histories.

http://www.calcasa.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/pedophiles-and-child-molesters.doc