AZ - Isabel Mercedes Celis, 6, Tucson, 20 April 2012 - #12

[ThoughtFox]

There have always been child-disappearances in the U.S. going back to colonial times. Back then they could blame it on wild animals or Native Americans or "getting lost in the woods" or drowning and no one would question it. Sometimes it was true, and sometimes it probably wasn't - just like now.

Even in the 20th century, people could beat and starve their children and no one would interfere, not even the police. People didn't always go to doctors, so if a child died at home no one looked into it.

And for some reason even today they still call children "run-aways" when they are much too young for that. Police ought to know better, but it's sad.

What strikes me is that some parents underestimate the danger of their neighborhoods. It may be a convenient place to live and close to work, or they get a good deal on a house, but it might not be the best place for children to exist. That's one of the major problems, just from my observation. We settled for a smaller house in a safe neighborhood on a dead end, and with a fenced-in-yard. And our school was within walking distance, but I didn't let them go there alone very much.

The Cielis home looked safe with the big fence and the dogs, but then we saw the video and it's right beside a mall area near a bar. That's not an ideal location for raising kids. JMOO :cow:

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Another attempted child abduction in Tucson.

http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/150623615.html

My gosh.....WTH is going on there?

They just seem to be getting bolder and bolder nowadays.

IMO

 

[Anita Richman]

My post was in response to the 15 year old girl who was almost kidnapped from her home in Arizona. The article is on the same link about the child on the bicycle.

I don't know if you realized it or not, but the article about the 15 year old girl was from September 2011.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Oh my gosh! That is just terrifying! How creepy!! I'm so glad she got away. It sounds like a scene from a scary movie.

This is why I say it is never wise to open the door to a stranger. I don't care if it is a man or woman. Even as an adult, if someone knocks on my door and I do not recognize them, I ignore it. The same would be true if someone was just parked in my driveway.

It is so sad that it has come to this. We live in a very safe neighborhood but for the last couple of years I dont answer the door if its a stranger and I dont care who they are. They could be the Prize Patrol delivering a million dollars and I still wouldnt open the door. LOL! My hubby works during the day and I am alone here.

When a stranger comes up our two doggies start raise all sorts of heck. I use that excuse when I yell through our thick glass locked storm door at the stranger. I tell them 'you really dont want me to open this door" and then point to our dogs that are baring their teeth by then. They just throw up their hand and wave and then leave.

IMO

 

[thefragile7393]

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/18170591/missing-mans-family-understands-celis-familys-pain

I remember this happening...i was in 6th or 7th grade. IIRC there was some talk about stepfather having to do with his disappearance.....not that it has anything to do with this case. Just jabbering.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Anita Richman]

My nerves are seriously so frayed right now that I swear if someone looks sideways at one of my kids, I'll come unglued!!!

 

[Anita Richman]

I remember this happening...i was in 6th or 7th grade. IIRC there was some talk about stepfather having to do with his disappearance.....not that it has anything to do with this case. Just jabbering.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

I wonder why Jimmy decided to walk home the morning he disappeared. I'd like to know more about the dynamics in the home of this babysitter's cousin.

 

[thefragile7393]

The Cielis home looked safe with the big fence and the dogs, but then we saw the video and it's right beside a mall area near a bar. That's not an ideal location for raising kids. JMOO :cow:

Really, there is NO ideal place to raise children anymore....tragedy can happen no matter what.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

[packerdog]

Does anyone know if Isa was a brownie? If she was I wonder if she sold girl scout cookies. Poor little Danielle sold cookies to pedophile Westerfield a short time before he kidnapped and murdered her. I think when he saw her face to face that was the trigger.

 

[Isabelle]

I don't know if you realized it or not, but the article about the 15 year old girl was from September 2011.

I didn't notice that, but thanks.

 

[Isabelle]

This article is from 12/11. Wonder if he's out on bond?

ETA: www.kgun9.com/news/local/135675808.html

 

[Isabelle]

Hope LE are re-looking at all the cases in the area for the past year to see if there could be a connect, cause there sure seems to be a fair number.

 

[LisaB]

Does anyone know if Isa was a brownie? If she was I wonder if she sold girl scout cookies. Poor little Danielle sold cookies to pedophile Westerfield a short time before he kidnapped and murdered her. I think when he saw her face to face that was the trigger.

I get the feeling most WS Moms are very involved with their kids, so I am sure you know how few parents are. When my daughter was Isa's age, lots of kids in her school wanted to join a troop, but there wasn't one. I ended up volunteering to be the leader so we could start a troop. Of course, none of the parents volunteered for anything, and I was also the Cookie Mom.

That was 15 years ago, and even then, scouts were cautioned NOT to go door-to-door selling cookies. Instead, there were scheduled spaces in front of the KMart and Giant Foods stores where you could set up a table on a Saturday and sell as a group.

That said, my car was broken into and the creeps stole 100 handmade quilts that I was delivering to a local children's hospital, my daughter's Christmas dress, and 3 cases of low fat, sugar free cookies. As a result, we tried to sell lots more cookies to make up for the loss, and that meant taking my daughter door-to-door in our neighborhood, and being with her the whole time. Almost every house bought cookies. Some bought upwards of half a dozen boxes, and all of them said they had not had a scout knock on the door selling cookies in a decade. They were ECSTATIC that we came to them.

To make a long story short (too late), scouts are discouraged from selling door to door. They are encouraged to do group sales events and to solicit relatives and/or have parents take the order form to work and solicit coworkers. Which is probably a moot point, as nobody has indicated that Isabel was a scout. But it does show that GSA is concerned about letting little girls go knocking on strangers' doors.

 

[gingerbread]

There are several links at the end of the article about the attempted abduction that occurred today, and I apologize if this has been mentioned in another thread, but this is an article about an attempted abduction that occurred in February 2012:
http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/140971633.html
Very very scary, especially because of the van.

 

[Isabelle]

I have told my granddaughter that if anyone tries to get her to go somewhere or tries to take her, to start screaming like crazy. Her mom told her to start screaming profanities, because she thinks most people would just ignore a kid screaming but would not ignore a child screaming profanities! What do you think.

 

[nursebeeme]

It's now been two and half weeks since Isabel Celis was reported missing.

As the days go by, the community volunteers are now asking for more help to keep Isabel's name out in the public eye.

Volunteers are planning more and more activities to continue to raise awareness and more money for their cause, and they are asking anyone who is interested in helping out to go to the volunteer center near the intersection of Craycroft and Broadway and lend a helping hand.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/18199210/isabel-celis-volunteers-asking-for-more-volunteers

 

[gingerbread]

I have told my granddaughter that if anyone tries to get her to go somewhere or tries to take her, to start screaming like crazy. Her mom told her to start screaming profanities, because she thinks most people would just ignore a kid screaming but would not ignore a child screaming profanities! What do you think.

That's sure to get attention!
We've always told our girls to yell "This is not my mom/dad!" at the top of their lungs. We saw that on John Walsh's Stranger Safety video.

 

[Thinkzerz]

I have told my granddaughter that if anyone tries to get her to go somewhere or tries to take her, to start screaming like crazy. Her mom told her to start screaming profanities, because she thinks most people would just ignore a kid screaming but would not ignore a child screaming profanities! What do you think.

I was told as a child to scream "fire" People look to those kind of words. Screaming profanities could work to but not always because some kids do have mouths on them. But what most kids need to learn is not to freeze in a situation and use what they have been taught to do.

 

[LisaB]

Here's another of my Girl Scout Cookie Sales stories...
There was a girl in our troop whose family was a disaster. She was a cute little thing, but turned out to be a rotten kid (sorry to say). We told the girls we'd be selling in front of KMart one Saturday and reminded them that we were to behave ourselves and be polite. This particular girl had to be picked up and dropped off by me, as her parents could not have cared less where she needed to be, and about half an hour into the 4 hour sale, she got fidgety. She was running in the automatic entrance door, then out the automatic exit door repeatedly, and I asked her to stop several times. Another mom was helping and said I might need to take T**** home early. She was swinging on a railing and NOT approaching customers, so I agreed. I told her I was taking her home and she started kicking me and trying to go into the store. I picked her up, (she was a wee little one) to carry her to my car. She bit me, kicked her legs, and SCREAMED things like "Help!" and "This is not my mommy!" but nobody did anything.

I still like the advice in one of the earliest threads... If someone is trying to grab you, start SCREAMING. If you feel you are being overpowered, WET YOUR PANTS! That sounds gross and funny, but it sure would give a kidnapper pause. He'd know you were going to be a LOT of trouble, and he might not WANT you in his car after that. I told my daughter this just a week or so ago... as a last ditch effort, stick your finger down your throat and vomit, on yourself, on him, anything to make you as undesirable as possible.

Most importantly, it is better to be rude than dead. If someone seems "off" don't worry about being polite.

 

[Patty G]

There have been some cases where a vehicle has been following a child, and the child runs off, and it ends up being the parent trying to get the child and bring them home.